Slayer Rider
by texaswookie
Summary: Buffy made a deal with Mephistopheles to protect her mother while she was in surgery the hellmuth is gone and Scratch has coome to collect on the debt that is owed him. He has several souls for the Slayer to collect in his name.Multicrossover Own nothing
1. Prologue

**Ch1 Prologue**

**Slayer Rider**

Don't own Buffy or Ghost Rider.

This is the unbetaed version the cleaned up version will come out later FFNET is easier on people about editing though than TTH

* * *

**Sunnydale California, Casa de Summers**

Buffy sighed as she leaned against the porch railing. Her life was currently falling apart at the seams and there wasn't a whole lot that she could do about it. The lesser problems were things like Riley leaving, the bigger problems though were the dangers that her mom was in because of this tumor of hers and of course the insane and deadly fashion victim Glory. Despite everything that she had seen and done as the Vampire Slayer, she was scared for her mom right now. There was no vampire or demon for her to hit on until it gave up and gave her mom's life back and make things all better this time around. In this case she had to let nature take its course, and trust her mother's life to the various doctors to do their jobs. The small blonde looked up as thunder crashed overhead. Hearing a sound she turned and followed it. There walking up the street toward her house was an old looking man in a suit a cane of some kind clicking against the sidewalk with each step he took. As he walked by the streetlights either flickered or blew up as he came near them, and he walked coolly as if it was something that happened all the time. Knowing the various people of Sunnydale, that was actually possible.

The Slayer walked down the steps to meet with the intruder before he caused any problems. She idly wondered if she was dealing with a human magic user, or if she was dealing with a demon of some type. "I help you with something?" The blonde asked, while glaring at the figure in front of her. "Cause I gotta tell you that tonight is so not the night you want to mess around with me." She warned him as she took a ready position should he decide to do anything she would be ready.

"Perhaps my dear or perhaps I can help you." The figure said cryptically, tipping his bowler hat at the Slayer as he came to a stop in front of her. He then leaned onto his cane like a vulture in a tree and looked her up and down with interest studying her intently.

"Uh huh." The Slayer said skeptically. "So, what's the real deal with you?"

The figure ignored the question as he continued to study her like he was waiting for something."I must admit, I thought you would be more impressive though from the way all of the various beings that I've met talk about you." He finally said he shrugged at this though without any real concern. "Perhaps it's while you fighting though that the stories about you are understandable." He mused more to himself than to her.

"Maybe," the blonde said, not about to let him get to her about what was, or was not being said about her by the various demons in Sunnydale. It was obvious to her that he wasn't really looking for Buffy Summers he wanted the Slayer. Beings that were looking for the Slayer only wanted one thing though. Things that were wet, sticky, and icky. "You could always walk away." She suggested as she brought her hands up into a fighting position. "If not, then you'll likely find out just what I am in a very painful way." She warned him.

"Perhaps you'll hear me out though before you try and attack me though Miss Summers." The figure said taking a step back and was now out of range of her fists and feet.  
"Depends," The Slayer said.

"On?" The figure questioned curiously.

"On whether I have a name to call you by." The blonde returned at him.

The figure nodded in understanding at the request. He seemed to think for a moment on the question before answering. "Scratch, you can call me Scratch." He said.

"Gotchya," The blonde said holding her tongue on the fact that this guy at least had a semi normal sounding name. Considering some of the names that she had heard over the years it was nice to have someone with a normal sounding name. "So, did you want something or not? Cause if not then I'm going to go on back in or knock your teeth out depends what I'm feeling like." She told Scratch.

Scratch chuckled at the reply. "Well Miss Summers, if you can contain yourself until you hear me out first?" He requested giving her a hopeful look.

"Sure just along with it already." The Slayer said getting impatient with the guy' beating around the bush like he was.

"Very well," Scratch said as he began to slowly walk around the blonde Slayer. "As you no doubt can tell I have certain powers." He started.

Buffy snorted at this. "Yeah, I kind of got the memo on that. What with the lighting, and the blowing up of all the street lights." The slayer said, gesturing to the streetlights from where he had come.

"Yes I suppose that was a bit melodramatic, but I doubt you would have approved of me just appearing in your yard without any warning." Scratch said to her casually.

"Can you get to the point already?" Buffy snapped, growing tired of the way the demon was trying to talk her down.

The figure nodded. "I happen to be a deal maker."

"Deal maker?" Buffy said hesitantly not sure she completely understood what it was that this had to do with her.

"Yes, and I am more than willing to make a deal with you." Scratch told her with a smile.

"Geeze I'm honored." Was the sarcastic reply he got in return. "I don't think I'm interested in a Demonic traveling salesman though. So go before I change my mind to slay you." The Slayer told him and began to turn away.

"Really, so you're not even interested in what I could do for your mother?" Scratch asked, watching the slayer carefully as he said this.

Buffy froze in mid turn at this. "What?" She growled, as she slowly turned back around to face this being in front of her.

"You heard me." Scratch said smiling that he now had the girl's complete attention. "A deal with me, and I can make sure that your mother comes out of that hospital just fine Slayer." He assured her with his slick smile.

"What's your price?" Buffy asked with narrowed eyes, but a trace of hope in her voice as well. This demon might have the answers that she needed. It wouldn't be the first time that she had made a deal with evil to get what she needed done. The number of times that she had worked with Spike was proof of that.

"I seem to have caught your attention Miss Summers." Scratch mocked at her as he continued to stare at her.

"Stop messing with me and tell me your price is." The Slayer ordered coldly. The slight banter gone from her voice as she regarded the being before her.

"Very well Miss Summers." Scratch said, as he slowly drew out a contract from his jacket. "Sign this and I guarantee you that your mother won't die while at the hospital." He told her.

"And what do you get out of it?" The Slayer questioned as she eyed the tempting contract Scratch held casually in his hands.

"Your soul of course." Scratch told her. "Of course once you perform certain services for me I will be more than willing to return it to you. Of course I'm not going to give you a lot time on this either. It's a onetime deal Slayer. So are you interested in saving your mommy dearest so that she can continue to make her chocolate pancakes, watch old movies with you and be there for you and your little sister? "He questioned her with a devious smile.

Buffy nodded as she eyed the paper hungrily the temptation there was so great. In the back of her mind she could hear Giles warning her against such things. This was her mom though and she would do whatever she had to too keep her alive. "On one condition." She told him.

"And what would that be?" Scratch wondered.

"You can't call on me as long as I'm within three hundred miles of Sunnydale." She demanded. I can't take the chance that you'll do something

Scratch smiled at her. "I think I can agree with that clause." He told her. He held the contract up in the air and fire began burning across the paper adding in the new clause to the contract. "There we are. I assume that you want to check it now?" He asked, and offered her the contract. The Slayer nodded and took the contract hissing as it cut her finger and a few drops of blood landed on the paper. "That's perfect." Scratch said as he quickly took the paper back. "In the morning when the time comes, I will help the doctors and guide their hands. That tumor will be nothing for them tomorrow." He assured her.

"It better." The slayer said as she watched him disappear.

* * *

Buffy leaned against a headstone in one of her favorite graveyards. Her mom was dead and there was nothing that she could do to change the fact that it had happened. How had things gotten to be like this? The girl wondered, hadn't she made a deal to stop this exact thing from happening? So how come her mom was dead from the damn tumor that the doctors and demon had all sworn it wouldn't kill her mom? As if summoned by her thoughts the clicking sound of a cane was heard. The Slayer sat up and saw the demon standing on a memorial just as cool as can be and smirking at her.

Not even aware of what it was that she was doing the blonde leaped to her feet and threw a dagger at Scratch and his oh so self satisfied smirk. Not even waiting to see the results of the damage that the blade would cause, she charged forward and wound her fist back swung. The blonde glared as her hand was caught in a vice like grip.

"Now, now." Scratch scolded still smiling as his old withered hand effortlessly held the quivering hand of the slayer. "None of that Buffy." He said to her, as if he was telling a child no for the first time. "After all, it seems like a waste of time for you to be using your energy against me." He told her.

"You monster!" Buffy spat back at him angrily her eyes watering up as she glared at the demon. "We had a deal. You said that she would be safe."

"And she was." Scratch said with a sincerity that didn't reach his eyes. "As long as she was at the hospital she didn't die just as the contract stated."It's not my fault that the doctors missed a piece that they thought was non lethal to her." The demon then backhanded her with the cane and sent her flying into a headstone. "Don't try that again Miss Summers, unless you wish to anger me." He warned her.

The Slayer climbed to her feet and got herself balanced on the balls of her feet. "I'll kill you." She growled. "Why did you let her die?"

Scratch shrugged without concern over the dead woman. "She would have gotten in the way, tried to do something that would have made you doing your job hard. Those friends of yours are going to be a trick, but I'll worry about that at some other time instead of dealing with them now. Make sure they never find out, and I won't have to deal with them." He warned her. "And don't bother trying to get any of your other friends help with the contract either. I was the one that taught Wolfram and Hart how to make deals. Trust me there is no way you're getting out of your contract until you pay up."

"We'll see." Buffy said, wondering if he had meant Angel couldn't help her. She knew her ex couldn't help with this though, he fought the lawyers he didn't work for them.

"When the time is right I will summon you." Scratch told her his hand playing with a strand of hair that had fallen to the side of her face and the slayer just glared and tried not to flinch at the touch.

"Not if I stay in the safe zone." Buffy said as she remembered the safe area that she had created.

Scratch smirked at her at this. "True, but I'm a patient person, and while Rome may not have been built in a day. A large part of it was destroyed." With that final word he just seemed to disappear leaving the rattled Slayer to wonder what would come next.

* * *

Buffy smiled as she heard that she was now no longer bound by her duty as the Chosen One anymore. Her life would no longer have its path mapped out by some higher beings. She was finally free from her duties. She wanted to scream in joy or play or shop she was finally free.

The blonde laughed along with her friends as they looked at all of the various car models. They were all looking for cars to buy to help in transporting the various slayers that they would find. Buffy fell into the shadows of the store and found an old motorcycle sitting just out of notice. It wasn't fancy, but was a simple bike and for what she had to do she knew it would serve her best. It had been the night that they had defeated the First. Buffy remembered the visit from Scratch who had destroyed her hopes of freedom with a reminder of her contract with him.

Since then she had been a little lost but was slowly building a plan. She had to get away from her friends before they became hurt by something that Scratch did. She had read up on the demon and knew that he was a power that she could not fight. She would have to find a different way to fight the demon but it needed to wait and it would have to be on her own.

She beckoned the dealer over and paid for the bike separately telling the man that she would be back later for it but for now keep the bike in storage and she would be back in a couple of days. She had waited three days before she had packed a bag of clothes mainly leather and jeans of various types and headed for the door. She walked out and slowly closed the door, her hand lingered for a moment on the door before she turned away.

"Going somewhere B?" Faith asked from where she was sitting on top of the remains of the school bus that had dragged them to this small town.

Buffy looked at her sister slayer. "Protect them Faith, it really is your job now." She told her sadly.

"And where are you going?" Faith questioned as she took a long drag from her cigarette. I thought you guys had made up and were all about the togetherness thing again?" She questioned her sister slayer.

"Away." The blonde said as she gave a sad look at the door. "It's the only way that I can protect them." She said as she began making her way towards the street. She would walk to the dealer who had agreed for an extra 300 dollars to remain open for a couple of hours so that she could retrieve her bike.

"Can't change your mind can I?" Faith asked hopefully as she watched the blonde walk away. She really didn't want to be the one in charge and without B there the responsibility would be hers. Last time that happened a lot of girls had died and this time the blonde wouldn't be in the background to come save her ass from her stupidity.

"Not this time Faith. This time I really have to go." The blonde told the other girl.

The brunette nodded then reached for something by her side. "You'll need this then your majesty." She said, and tossed something at the blonde who caught the Scythe as it landed in her hands. "Now get going before one of the babies gets it in their head to go patrolling." Faith told her with a sad grin.

Buffy nodded her thanks and disappeared into the night.

* * *

**Phoenix, Arizona**

Buffy groaned as she twirled her scythe around. Life was different for her these days. It had been nearly two months since she had been forced to leave for the safety of all of the others. Since she had left the others, she had stayed on the move. She couldn't risk Willow or Dawn doing a locator spell and finding her even with all of the protective charms against that she had found. She ducked the blow of a vampire and staked him with the wooden end of her weapon. She turned to look down at her bike where the symbol of the Vampire Slayer had been painted on her black motorcycle with blood red paint. Pleased that her bike was alright the Slayer prepared to mount when she heard clapping. She turned and looked toward the source of the clapping.

"Very good. You'll be one of my most powerful riders ever." Scratch complimented, as he appeared out of the shadows.

"Time to pay up?" The Slayer questioned.

"That it is." Scratch said glad to see that this Rider knew better than to try and run. It was a benefit of taking a rider that was already a part of the magical world. It also saved him time when they tried to wiggle out of the deal. "I admit there were times I wondered if our deal was going to be completed." He admitted to her. "Even I was hard pressed to keep your body preserved while you spent all that time buried. The fact that because you made yourself a willing sacrifice for the world also added in some problems as well. There are the occasional loopholes that help you get out of deals sometimes with the right work."

"Well I'd say sorry for making you worry and have all that extra work but we both know that I would be lying." Buffy returned to him as she eyed him distrustfully.

"True, all to true." The Demon Lord said with a nod. _"_D'Hoffryn warned me that you and yours could be somewhat troublesome at times though. Of course I never would have believed him had he told me just how troublesome. Still your witch friend raised you from the dead and since I had kept your body ready for you there were no problems when you came back up. It saved a lot of time I would have had to spend healing you otherwise. It's also why the First wasn't overly concerned about killing you as it knew I wanted you and would use my power to ensure that you survived even when others didn't." He taunted her.

"Yet another thing to thank you for one of these days." She informed him.

Buffy nodded and placed her helmet on as she accepted what was about to happen to her. "Time to ride." She said softly and sadly right before she felt the agonizing changes begin. Her helmet erupted in flames and the visor covered a face that seemed to be on fire. Her entire body erupted into fire and changed as the power of Scratch entered into her. The slayer essence and the demon power dueled for a few moments each seeking dominance. The power of the Ghost Rider far outstripped that of the slayer though as it overcame the small demon essence. Her body took on the usual skeletal appearance that Ghost Riders had her clothes shifted slightly though into the hide of the demon essence of the Slayer. A scabbard appeared on her back where the now flaming scythe slid in. And her bike became a dangerous monstrosity covered demonic symbols.

"Impressive." Scratch said as he looked her fiery leather clad body over appreciatively. "Your experience with your other demonic entity allows you a bit of control on your form. It shall be a pleasure watching you do your work. I would call you my Ghost Rider except that's not what you are. No you're not a Ghost Rider you're a Slayer Rider." He told the former Slayer with a dark smirk. "And now for your mission."


	2. SHIELD I

Ch2 SHIELD I

Don't own Buffymutant academy, Ghost Ridermarvel, or Shield fx network? characters folks I make no money from this.

* * *

"So," Buffy stated now that she was in her fire form. "What do you want me to do first?"

"I have had several 'loan sharks' you might say selling souls for simple things like money, drugs other little human vices that some enjoy so much." Scratch returned to his Rider with an amused smile. "They have gotten greedy lately though and seem to think that they can skim off the middle and use the souls as bargaining chips for various other endeavors. They must figure I would never notice them using the lesser souls for their various things that they want to do. I need you to go out and collect these souls and inform my people that I do not appreciate it when people decide that they can use my property to get more power. When you inform them I want you to be very forceful and show them what happens to those that try to cheat me out of what is rightfully mine. I'm sure once word get around that I am still in charge that it will be a while before I have that particular problem happening once again. Perhaps a new head of operations will be required."

"So these guys are still bad guys then?" The Slayer Rider questioned him hopefully. A part of her had been afraid that he would have turned her into crazy Faith or something like the Mayor had done long ago to her sister slayer. She knew if that was the case that she might have lost herself just as much as Faith had lost herself. Attacking and killing innocents simply because they might know of a way to stop him from whatever evil plan that he had.

"Oh yes they are some of the worst." Scratch assured her in his deceptive old man like way. "Just remember that if it makes you feel better about your mission. Now go and get these souls for me like a good little girl please. If you're lucky I'll only send you after souls that are in hard to get spots and what not." Scratch informed her. "Then again I may send you to deal with stubborn beings that are trying to fight the various deals and what not that they have made. I am a man of my word and I always keep my word when it comes to deals. Unfortunately there are those that wish to avoid the deals that they have made. Consider yourself in the repossession business if it makes you feel any better." He offered to her with a smirk.

Slayer Rider growled her anger at the man. "And I do this and I can go my own way right?" She asked hopefully.

"You must not have been paying attention to me when I told you that there would be other missions." Scratch admonished her. "The soul of a champion such as you is worth so much more than your average person's soul. The weight of repayment will have to be heavy indeed before you shall be able to claim your soul as your own once again." He informed her. "I also think it a bit unfair that you have your reasoning so I think that I'll bind that for a while so that you learn just as any other of my Riders would. No sense in giving you anymore of an advantage than you already do."

The fire around the Slayer Rider flared brightly in her anger before she swung herself onto her bike. She would like nothing more than to take a swing at Scratch but for some reason she doubted that she would get to far with that one and he would probably make her regret it in some way. She then roared away from him at speeds that her bike had originally never been made to handle. The mystically enhanced bike had speeds that few vehicles were capable of a left a trail of fire and melted tar behind her. She and the bike knew where to go she didn't know if Scratch had told them through some freaky method or if it was because she was his servant for the moment. Whatever it was she knew where she was going. She was going back to where the journey of the Supernatural had started. She was going back home to LA.

* * *

As she roared into the city she ignored the various sights and sounds as she whizzed by. She wanted to get this done and get out the sooner she was done playing errand boy for the demon the sooner that she could get back to her life that she had lost. She eased into the good parts first then breezed into the harder looking areas. As Buffy Summers she would probably stick out in this place and be a target for gang bang. As the Slayer Rider though she was the predator that scared off would be attackers. This neighborhood was one that she had heard of but had never spent a lot of time in. The Farmington area was supposed to be the worst one that there was out there.

The creature ignored her little bit of humanities gut reaction of wanting to run away and focused instead on the mission. She allowed her demons to take over and fulfill their mission. The place to find was easy enough it was a mid range house that had enough nice looking things scattered about that anyone looking could see that there was more going on than met the eye. She let her bike idle for a moment before she got off and prepared to walk up the steps. She was stopped though by someone barring her way.

"Um excuse me I can't let you go in there." A voice said." Soul Boy is not someone's house you want to be in tonight."

Turning to see who or what had braved touching her she was surprised to find a human holding onto her. She sneered at the human and jerked her arm free of his hold.

"Hey, I'm serious." The man said as he grabbed onto her again. "L.A.P.D! Now you can walk away from this mess or you can talk to me downtown. So what's it going to be flame-brain?" The Slayer Rider merely turned back to the door ignoring the human as no consequence. All right that does it. The cop said as he drew his gun. "Taking another step and I'll be forced to put a hole into you. Maybe then you'll be able to hear me better when I tell you to do something." The Slayer Rider continued to ignore the orders and walked towards the door. "Can't say I didn't warn you." The guy said as he fired off a burst into the back of the figure.

Slayer Rider stopped as she felt the bullets hit her. Having merged with an extremely powerful demon though the only damage was to the leather jacket. It turned to glare at the cop and then backhanded the man across the yard and into a parked car. Turning around it then slammed its fist through the door. As it walked in it saw that the back door was swinging back and forth. The time it had taken for it to deal with the human had allowed the demon that was dealing with souls to slip away. Angry the Slayer Rider slammed its fist into a wall. It was then that it heard the hissing sound and turned to notice that the gas stove was turned to full power. The resulting explosion that lashed out at Slayer Rider consumed the entire house in a small fire bomb.

Ronnie watched in disbelief as the building went up in flames. They had been all set to assault the place when the unknown had appeared. Now in a matter of minutes months of work went up in flames along with whatever evidence that they had hoped to pull from the place. The other members of the Strike Team helped their friend and teammate up.

"What the hell was that all about?" Vic Mackey demanded as they watched the flames burn the place.

"I have no idea Vic." Ronnie told the man. "I tried to stop them, hell I put a bullet in their shoulder and they still kept on going." He said in awe as he accepted the hands that pulled him up. "Whoever they were they just tossed me all the way from that porch to a parked car and if that car hadn't been there I wouldn't be surprised if I would have gone even further."

Lemonhead got off his radio. "The Fire Department is on their way to deal with this." He said nodding toward the mess the exploding house had made.

"Good," Vic said nodding. "While they're doing that see if you can't find anything about our biker from their bike." He said nodding toward the motorcycle.

"Ah Vic, I think we got a bigger problem than that right now." Shane said as he motioned toward the fire. The other members of the team turned to look where the man was gesturing. They all watched in shock and awe as a figure casually stepped out of the inferno. "Who is this guy?" Shane questioned as he looked at the figure. A figure that despite being on fire wasn't yelling or thrashing around. Instead they were mounting their bike as if nothing was wrong.

"We can worry about that and any other questions later at the Barn Shane. Right now we need to get them down before the fire kills them. Then they can explain it all to us when we got them at the ER." Vic told his friend as he removed his jacket. The group all charged the figure hoping to smother the flames out.

The fiery figure responded to their attempted help by tossing all of them away as if it was nothing. Slayer Rider turned to growl and glare at the group before mounting its bike and roaring off, leaving a trail of fiery destruction behind it.

"Uh does someone want to fill me in on what is going on here man?" Lemonhead questioned the others as he painfully climbed to his feet.

Vic climbed to his own feet. "I don't know, but we better call it in."

"Great, this should be lots of fun." Shane complained as he stayed where he had been thrown. "Tell Aceveda that some flaming freak kicked all our asses."


	3. SHIELD II

Usual case of not owning anything that right belongs to Joss Marvel and FX. Morgimir is the beta

* * *

Buffy groaned as she came to. The morning sun shining down on her face and waking her up. She looked around her and grimaced as she realized that she had woken up in an alley of some sort. The garbage she was lying in was so not helping her right now. She could see her bike was nearby it looked like she had parked it before collapsing here in the trash she noted. She winced as she tried to remember everything that had happened last night. She had fought some vampires, talked with Scratch about her deal and then there was pain and a lot of blurry images that she couldn't quiet remember. More than likely they were important but she couldn't figure out what they meant. She would figure it out but first she needed a shower and some real sack time. Once she figured out just where she was that is. Maybe she would find a motel first she reasoned she could always find out where she was later. Besides after dozing in a dumpster she so needed a shower and a real bed.

* * *

As the Slayer found a place to sleep the Barn was raging with activity. As Detective Dutch Wagenbach found as he walked into the police station. "What is going on here?" He questioned his partner as he nodded to the bustling place. "You can practically feel the tension in here."

"What you haven't heard Dutch?" A broad shouldered, dark skinned woman, in her forties or fifties questioned the tall thin white man. "Evidently there was some sort of problem in a bust last night. Strike Team came in talking about a flaming skeleton that beat the crap out of them then road off on a motorcycle."

"Really?" Wagenbach questioned with a smirk. "I'm sorry I missed seeing it. Are they all right?"

"They're pretty banged up, but you know them they want their payback for it. What's more they've got Aceveda working with them on this one. Fact is he wants everyone to report to him for the briefing now."

Wagenback nodded his head absentmindedly as he sat some folders down by his desk. "You go ahead I want to check something out first," he informed her.

"Alright," Claudette said wondering what her partner was thinking this time. She hurried over to where the others were gathered around the Hispanic police captain while Wagenbach began typing away on the computer.

"Okay people settle down," Aceveda ordered as the various officers and detectives gathered around in a circle. "We don't know much about this person yet but we do know that he's plenty dangerous. If he's willing to attack police officers then we might have to worry. The fact that he could take on four cops and get away has me worried as well. What we believe to know about this person is that they are very likely on some form of steroid supplements and possibly painkillers as well. It could even be a new type of drug since we haven't seen anything like it that we know of. So check with the dealers on who's dealing that kind of stuff," he advised them. "Check around find out what kind of product a dealer by the name of Soul Boy was pushing. It was his house that was destroyed which means that there might be a connection between the two."

Danny looked a bit disbelieving at that. "Steroids boss? Doesn't that seem kind of basic?" The brunette woman questioned the man.

"It's the only way that we can describe the unnatural strength that he displayed. We also know that this person took a bullet straight to the back without flinching and then was caught in the middle of a fire bomb and didn't even seem to notice what had happened to him."

"Do we at least know what this guy looks like?" One of the men questioned.

Aceveda shook his head at that. "Unfortunately we don't."

"Why not?" another officer asked.

"Vic you want to handle this one?" The captain questioned the broad shouldered bald man.

Vic nodded his agreement. "The perp is either wearing either a helmet or a mask that is shaped like a skeleton. The person wouldn't even take them off when they had caught on fire. So I'm thinking that the guy we're looking for has a large amount of nerve damage or there's something more to his head gear."

"Good call Vic," Aceveda complimented. "I also want you to look for people who have been burned before as well. Our best clue in tracking this person down is probably his bike. It's a custom done job has all sorts of demonic looking things on it. It's not a bike that anyone is likely to forget so try and see if you can hear about any new bikes or bikers with that sort of bike coming in. Where's Wagenbach?" He finally asked as he realized he was short one of his people.

"Here," the man said as he shouldered his way through the crowd holding a slim file in his hand.

"You're late," Aceveda returned to him.

"Yeah sorry about that. It's just that when Claudette was telling me about the rumors of this guy it reminded me of a really weird report that I had read a few months ago," Wagenbach explained. "Anyways, I called up an old friend of mine and he faxed me the records that I needed," the harried looking detective then pulled a picture out of the folder. On the paper was a flaming skeleton in black biker leathers on a demonic looking bike.

Aceveda took the paper from his detective and nodded at him. "Good work," he congratulated him.

"Is this the one that nailed you and your team Vic?" Dutch questioned as he handed another copy of the picture to the other officer.

Vic passed it around his team for a few minutes and they muttered their thoughts to themselves. "It looks real close to him but not quiet our guy is shorter, his leathers don't have all of those spikes on them and the bikes aren't the same either."

"So we have a possible copycat then," Wagenbach said with a nod.

"Where did you get these images?" Aceveda questioned the detective.

"Austin P.D, these pictures were taken a few months ago," he explained to the man.

"Right, so we're dealing with someone who looks approximately like this then when they're out having fun," the captain told his people as he placed the picture on the board. "If you find him be careful we don't know what he's capable of. When he wasn't ready he took out the Strike Team was shot and burned and still kept going. There's no guarantee that anything you do will hurt him. Do you know anything else about our possible suspect detective?"

"Not much really. There is some belief that there is a connection between this figure here and Johnny Blaze the stunt driver," Wagenbach explained as he handed out pictures of the mentioned man. "If they're the same person then be very careful. Using one of his stunt bikes he somehow destroyed a lot of downtown Austin. However, he's only been seen like this at night so he may spend the day preparing the city for his stunts and what not the day before. If that's right then last night he was probably testing his equipment out and tonight will be his big hurrah."

"All the more reason to catch him now before he tries anything then," Aceveda commented. "You heard him so everyone be careful. I also want to get a news crew out to cover this as well."

"Actually I wouldn't do that," the detective countered.

"What why?" _Aceveda questioned in confusion. "We need to let the public know about the threat that he represents."_

_Wagenbach stood in defiance of his captain._ "If Blaze really is the man behind this then you need to think about it for a moment. He's a man that was raised giving performances and has always worked on doing bigger and better all the time. If you put his face and name out there for everyone to see he'll see it as free publicity of the greatest kind and probably try and make whatever it is he has planned even more impressive than he planned before just so that people will have gotten their money's worth from the show. No, the best way to take him down will be nice and quietly without any big fuss," Wagenbach reasoned. "Look if I'm right the guy is only going to be here for one or two more days and if you tell anyone about this it will only cause a panic."

"I don't like it but fine," Aceveda finally agreed. "If he's still in town after 24 hours though then I'm taking it to the press."

"Fine, that's all I'm asking for anyways," Wagenbach returned.

"Good, now let's go get the guy before he decides to make another run for it or something," Vic told them as he led the Strike Team away. "When we find Evel Knievel we're going to be the ones throwing him around," the man wanted get his payback for what had happened last night and he knew that the best way to get that payback was to find the perp before any of the others did.

"Alright people let's do it. We got less than 24 hours to figure out what this joker is going to do," Aceveda ordered sending the police scrambling out.

* * *

"Angel, we seem to have a problem," Wesley said gravely as he entered into the new office of the vampire.

"Really and what might that be Wes?" The vampire with a soul questioned.

"A Rider has been spotted in LA," he informed the vampire. "This could prove to be dangerous."

"And what's a Rider?" Gunn questioned the others.

"A demonic servant for a Demon Lord that refers to itself as Scratch, Wesley explained, "however its true names are Mephisto, or Mephistopheles, he's an upper level soul dealer demon that has his own dimension."

"So he's like Jenoff or something then right?" Gunn questioned.

Angel shook his head at that. "Jenoff was like lower management compared to Mephistopheles," the vampire explained. "This Rider of his is at least as strong as Jasmine maybe even stronger."

"Yes, he gets someone to sell their soul t him for some reason or other and then they act as a collector or middle man for him. They also serve as the primary muscle as well as errand boy to this particular demon," Wesley explained to them as he handed them a book that showed a burning skeleton upon a horse. "This is a drawing of the last known Ghost Rider and some of the things that he was capable of as well. It uses hellfire to fight which makes it one of the most dangerous creatures around that doesn't even include its strength, or its other abilities that they are said to have. We have to find them and get them to their target fast before they decide to burn Los Angeles in hellfire. Our one advantage is that it only hunts at night or in the dark meaning that there might yet be chance for us to find it before it can get back out there."

The others looked at the former Watcher and after seeing the serious face headed for the door. "We're on it Wes just try and see if you can figure out a way for us to take it down quickly."

"Understood," the man returned as he turned toward the pile of books before him with the hope he would be able to figure out how to stop the creature.

* * *

Buffy woke up dressed in sweats and had food soon she was feeling more or less like herself whatever that was exactly Unaware of the commotion that she had caused within the police force .She began to run through the tai chi exercises that Angel had taught her after his return from hell. Using the ancient arts she began to center her mind as she centered her thoughts the memories of last night came. Most of them were still blurred as if she couldn't quite understand what it was that she was seeing. She worked harder and harder and fell into a near trance like state. The girl was tiring even with her abilities there was only so much of this that she could do. Suddenly she saw Scratch.

"Find Soul Boy," the ghostly image told her and an image of who she was after appeared a moment later. First the demon appeared then she watched the body shift to a tall dark skinned man. After that the image faded and Buffy found herself back in the motel room.

Now that she knew who she was after and their name she could find the person. She knew that she could just wait until nightfall when her other side would come out or she could hunt the demon down herself it would mean she wouldn't have to turn into a demon every time if she did that and the more she thought of it that way the more appealing that it became. Sliding into her biker leathers the blonde headed out the door. She let the slayer out and began her hunt. A hunt that was telling her which bar to head into.

* * *

The blonde cautiously walked into the bar and looked around. Despite being who she was even she realized that she stood out like a sore thumb in this place. She may have been fighting her war for years but there was something about being born into war and moving to war. The people in this bar had been born into a war of the streets and Buffy had never had to worry about that. She was always sure of a meal unlike some of these people that didn't. Survival had been the only way many of these people knew.

Buffy with her shiny skin and blonde hair was obviously not cut from the same place. The blonde looked around her eyes noticing the various bulges that the people had. These weren't nice bulges either they were the bulges of guns. A bulge she had long since learned to identify. Riley had taught her a number of the tricks of the trade even if she didn't always seem to care what he was showing her. There were also the signs of knives and a few other things that they had on them. The guns were the dangerous part though because unlike knives and such she couldn't catch a bullet. She had been shot before, not something that she really wanted a replay of.

She felt her skin crawl slightly as she walked toward the bar. She knew that despite everything that most of those men had her prancing around in front of them naked. It was a feeling she hadn't felt since walking by the high school football team. Only this time it was ten times worse and felt so dirty. Most likely because instead of just thinking of what she looked like they were imagining just what they would do to her. If she was a normal girl they would probably be able to do it as well though. She wasn't normal though and while the thought of all the guns disturbed her she knew that to get what they wanted they would have to get close and after that it would be her game.

She leaned herself against the bar for a moment before the bartender finally approached her. "You lost chica?" the man questioned her. "This ain't exactly your place."

"I'm looking for Soul Boy," the girl returned. "Now where can I find him?"

"And who are you?" The bartender questioned. "Even if I did know what would be in it for me white girl?"

"I'm guessing offering to not break all the bones in your hand isn't going to do it," she said as she eyed the bar carefully.

The bartender wanted to laugh at the threat but the casual and confident way that she said that made him unsure of her. "You got that right girlie," he blustered out to her.

The blonde nodded as she seemed to be trying to figure things out. "Look I'm a messenger from his supplier. He's behind on his payments," she informed him. "When you get behind on your payments you know that the big guy always comes to collect. I'm just the first of a line of messengers because Soul Boy went and got greedy."

"Uh huh?" the bartender said not looking completely convinced about that. "Why would a little white bitch like you be working as a messenger?" he pressed.

"Because I owe him and until I finish out my service to the boss man I'm stuck like this," Buffy returned to him. "Can I get a drink?" she asked as she laid a large bill on the table.

The bartender didn't look completely convinced but he did seem to believe her story a bit more now. "Fine, go into the back someone will meet you there," he said as he quickly palmed the money from the girl.

The girl nodded as she took the offered drink and headed in the direction she was told. A few minutes later she was in a back room with some guy. "You the guy that can tell me where to find Soul Boy?" She demanded.

"Maybe chica, Soul Boy is important to us here. Now you say his supply might be running out."

"That's what I'm told, most likely he want Soul Boy to give him what he's due though," Buffy said shrugging her shoulders. "Anyways, as I understand it Soul Boy will be dealt with and someone new takes over the business."

"So product will keep coming through then?"

"Yeah, how it works here is not my concern though," the blonde said uncaringly. "I do my job then head onto wherever else that he sends me."

"Fine I'll set you up with your meeting then," the man said. "First things first though."

"Yeah?"

"Strip," he told her bluntly, "I need to make sure you ain't wired or anything," he said with a leering smirk aimed at her.

Buffy reacted without thinking as she reached across the room and slammed him into the wall. "How about I put you into traction and break anything I don't think that you'll need?" She questioned as she looked at the pinned figure.

"Its procedure girl, you want to see the Soul Boy then you got to show me some skin," the man said with a weak smirk. Despite his initial attempts at trying to break free of the girl he was still being held in a tight and firm grip. "You got to decide how important finding Soul Boy is to you r should I say how important it is to your boss that you find him."

A scowling Buffy nodded angrily as she removed her hands from the figure before her and took several steps back. She could always start breaking various bones. She mused to herself. Despite what others might like to think she had studied the various forms of torture and knew each of them very well. She had seen the results of Xander, Giles, and Spike's various tortures. She knew how it happened and how to replicate it. She could work this guy over. However, she wanted to get this done before her boss made her into that monster again. She was the Slayer she wasn't whatever he did to her. She was still confused over what he had done to her. All she knew was that she had traveled a state or two and wound up in an alley. She didn't know if she had done anything else and wanted to get the job done before he decided she needed help. This jerk had her backed into a corner though. The smug smile on the guy let him know that he knew he had her even if it wasn't for the reasons that he thought.

The blonde glared at the man for another moment before she shucked her jacket it was followed with her t-shirt. Happy? She questioned him as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Hardly," the man said," against the wall," he ordered. The blonde leaned her hands against the wall and suppressed a shudder as the man began patting her down despite her earlier display of strength his hands were going to several places they probably shouldn't. "Turn around," the blonde did as she was told and as the man's hands cupped her breasts her self control fell out and she kicked him into the chair which shattered as he hit it.

"You better be satisfied," the girl said as she slipped her shirt and jacket back on.

"Yeah," the man said weakly from where he had fallen to the ground.

"Good," the blonde then knelt down beside the man. "You ever try that with me again you better hope I'm unconscious because next time I break your hands," she promised him. "Now, about that information?"

"He's got a place in the warehouse district," the man gasped out.

"Good," Buffy said as she dropped a couple of bills on top of the man before she waltzed out of the back room.

Everyone watched her walk out of the room. "See something interesting?" Buffy questioned the room.

"They're just surprised that you ain't got any obvious marks and all of your clothes," the bartender returned. "Alex has a habit of making a person regret asking him questions and girls usually leave in much less than they started out with."

Buffy smirked a bit at that. "He's bleeding all over the floor back there. I paid him so he can pay you for cleanup." The bartender nodded and gestured toward the door. The blonde nodded as she turned to leave. The man didn't want her here in case someone who liked the informant decided to make an issue over what she had done.

Buffy waltzed out the door. As she walked she began to think of who and what she had become. She who had guarded the hellmouth for 7 years was now serving a demon. It wasn't something she was proud of and she did it. She needed to know what her being a servant of this Scratch demon meant. She needed to learn some of what had happened to her. This was LA there was a magical community here that she could hopefully find some books. She needed to learn what a Rider was and what it meant to be one. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts though that she slammed into a tall blonde guy.

"Sorry," the guy said flashing her a grin.

Buffy smiled back at him. He reminded her of a tall muscled Xander. It wasn't his looks or the way he moved which were closer to Riley or Spike it was the way his eyes sparkled with mischief and something else. There was also something vaguely familiar about him and she wondered if she had seen him before. Had he been to Sunnydale or had she met him before she became a slayer. It didn't matter she had other things to do now. "It's alright, I was just leaving anyways," she assured the tall man as she flashed him another smile.

The blonde headed towards her bike ignoring the eyes that were following her behind.

Lemonhead grinned as his gaze followed after the girl he had bumped into. He watched her mount an old but reliable looking motorcycle painted with a design that he didn't recognize.

Shane looked back at his partner and friend and shook his head as he came to stand beside his friend and inspect what had taken his fancy. "Mmm, just imagine those legs wrapping themselves tightly around you as she mounts you," the balding dark haired officer said with a sleazy grin as they watched her swing her legs onto the bike. "She's a little small in the chest for my tastes but hey maybe your into that sort of thing," he mocked the other cop.

Lemonhead grinned back unashamedly toward his friend. "Hey, I was just checking out the motorcycles in case the one we were looking for was parked out there," the man defended with a wily grin.

"Uh huh," Shane said knowingly. "Sure you were." He then dragged the other man into the bar and started flashing his badge around. "Okay folks, we're looking for Soul Boy it seems that he's gone and made himself some rather bad enemies."

"Check with Alex in the back. The last person that wanted to know where Soul Boy was tore him apart," someone directed before turning back to their drink. The two officers nodded as they followed the directions and found the fallen tough guy trying to pull himself up.

"Don't you just love it when the bad guys come to you looking like the pieces of shit that they really are?" Shane questioned, as he knelt down beside the beaten man with a big shit eating grin stretched across his face.

"Does make our job easier when they're already like this," Lemonhead agreed with amusement.

"What do you two pigs want?" The man grunted out at them.

"Oh we just want to know where Soul Boy is, and seeing what happened to you I'm guessing that we're not the only ones either," Shane said with a smile. "That means if you were to get a bit rougher looking then no one would know if it was us or whoever came before us," he added with a chuckle as he reached ad twisted the man's arm causing a small groan.

The man looked at them in anger and annoyance as he realized that the two officers had really gotten lucky this time around.

* * *

Buffy looked down the road from where she was parked. Just a few blocks away she could see the Hyperion. She would love to get Angel's help with this. He and Wesley would both be instrumental on what she was searching for but she couldn't bring herself to ask that either of them turn from their duties to help her. She had no real idea what she was doing and she didn't want to draw Angel and his people into this. Besides she knew how precious a soul was to the vampire she didn't need him telling her what she had done was stupid. She had caused this mess ad she was going to be the one to fix it o one else. She made her way into the small bookstore and nodded to an old man that was going over various things.

Ignoring some things she began looking she needed to know exactly what the Rider was. She needed to know what she was. She needed to know what it was that she had become and the only way to do that was to find answers here. She found the demon books right where Angel had once told her they were. He had used this place and knew that people who needed to know who and what he was had come here as well. She gathered what she could and began searching.

While Buffy read through the various old books lamenting her loss of good researchers the police stationed around the Farmington area were working overtime. Gunrunners and bikers were their main targets and after running those in didn't bring in anything Aceveda turned his back and cut the Strike Team loose on the streets. The four man team grinned and charged in. They knocked over crack houses, ID shops, chop shops, they hit the gangs as well the Boyz Latz, One Niners, K-Town Killers, and Los Mags. The smaller more minor gangs were struck as well. Despite the overturning of everything that made up the various communities the group was finding nothing on the biker though. It was as if no one knew where he might be.

Danny and Julian were leading the various uniforms also began searching. Every bar and biker hangout that was known to any of the various Farmington police department were searched for any possibilities. They searched through auto shops and began passing rough pictures around of what they knew of Johnny Blaze and his fiery rider persona. They questioned people on possible hideouts and on any new bikes in the area. People that specialized in decal and painting bikes were hauled in and questioned on anything that had come through that might have been connected to the rider. With the list of potential names the various bikes and bikers were investigated for any possible connection. The police were determined to do their best to catch the person before they could strike again.

* * *

While this was going on Dutch was working away on his computer as he began trying to figure the person that they were hunting down. With only two sighting of the figure ever it was hard to figure out. He had all of the various police and news footage on their potential target sent to him so that he could find anything that might give him an idea as to what kind of person it was that they were chasing. Claudette was running down through the various informants that she knew while he examined the various other facts.

"Hey I got something," Claudette said as she hung her phone up.

"What?" The younger man questioned.

"According to a friend of mine that questioned some of Johnny Blaze's old friends there might be a way to track him. It seems that our biker boy was a heavy reader. He particularly read a lot into the religion, demonology, and occult sections. He had an entire loft scattered with the various books," the woman informed her partner.

"Huh, that's interesting," Dutch said as he leaned back in his chair a moment as he tried to figure things out. "So a guy that rides motorcycles and jumps over things for a living is either deeply religious meaning that he might even be trying to run away from some sort of inner demon or it means that he's doing his best to either get into heaven or hell. The jumping and then coming down could be symbolic of that in some way," he theorized to his partner. "By adopting the fire skeleton personae though, it means that he doesn't think exactly that way anymore. He sees himself as the monster, the demon. He believes himself to be either immortal or protected from death in some way. When you consider some of the jumps that he made before applying the costume it makes sense. There are some jumps that should have been nearly impossible for him to manage yet he always scraped by somehow. He may think that he has nothing to fear from death anymore or that he is death. Hence the skeleton since it's usually the sign of death in various religions."

"Yeah, well we better have people start hitting these various stores it's likely that he's been to some of the stores here. From what we know he left all of his own books behind which means that eventually he's going to want to try and replace his library. He may start doing that while he's here."

"Maybe but we need to report this in the Captain," Dutch reminded her.

"Well let's go then," the woman said impatiently ushering the young man forward.

"Yeah I suppose so; it just seems like such a slim lead to spend time following through on though," Dutch pointed out to her. "I mean I was kind of hoping to find a tip or something on Roxanne Simpson his ex-girlfriend. From what I can tell he didn't jump on the crazy train until after he met back up with her. Well he wasn't as bad you'd have to be crazy to do some of the jumps that he did," he amended. "I just know that she would be able to tell us something about Blaze and what all of this means if we could just locate her."

"I agree, unfortunately it's the only lead that we got," Claudette said tiredly as they headed off to give their report.

The two detectives took their findings to Aceveda who ushered them along and soon the pair were searching through the various obscure bookstores that dealt with various religious items. The two detectives pawed through the various shops hoping to find someone or something that fit their criteria. None of the shops they visited though had any bikers that looked like they might be strong enough to wipe out an entire team of cops. Most of the bikers that they did find were mainly admiring the books for the deadly images that the books had and didn't care one bit about what was written on the pages. Nothing else was found yet though they continued to look for what may or may not be coming.

The two detectives entered one of the shops and made their way toward the bookstore owner. "You the owner?" Claudette questioned the man.

"Yes ma'm I am, now what can I do for you?" The man asked curiously.

"I'm detective Williams and this is my partner detective Wagenbach," the man nodded to the pair as they flashed their badges out at him. "We need to know if this man has been around at all to your knowledge," she said as she handed a picture of Blaze over to the man. "He's wanted in correlation to a variety of crimes that happened last night."

The old man studied the picture for several moments before shrugging as he handed the photo back. "Sorry, but I don't know anyone that looks like that."

"Really?" Dutch questioned with a tone of disbelief. "If that's the case then do you think you can tell me whose motorcycle that is parked out front? You know the one with the really odd symbols painted on the front?"

"That would be mine buddy, is there a problem with it?" A voice snarked out at the man from behind them. The two Farmington cops spun around and saw a short blonde woman dressed in leather pants and jacket with a saddlebag in her arms.

"How did you sneak up behind us?" Dutch said nervously.

The blonde shot him a feral grin. "Practice," she informed him. She then turned to the store owner. "I fixed what I could on your security, nothing a little bit of blood and sweat didn't fix but you really need to get someone more experienced to examine it pretty soon. Some of your supplies are also going a little stale it's probably about time to restock on some things. You know who to call for those sorts of things though."

"Right, I'll take care of it," the shop owner assured her. "Thanks for giving everything a once over as well."

The blonde smiled at him. "Hey it's what I do," she assured him. The smile left her face though as she turned to regard the two cops. "You guys were interested in my bike? I'm thinking its business since I can't really see either of you on a bike anytime soon."

"Uh yeah, the designs on it what do they stand for?" Dutch questioned her.

The girl smiled sadly at the man. "It means my old nickname or title depending on who you ask. It's there as a reminder of who I used to be and who I hope to be again. It's there to remind me of my friends and family. Work, obligations and callings kind of made us turn to different things recently though. Until I fulfill mine, that may be as close to them as I get for a while."

"Uh huh," Wagenbach said with interest. "Tell me, have you ever seen this man?" The detective flashed the picture again.

"Other than on some films and posters in various bars no," the girl returned. "Something I need to worry about?"

"Doubtful, it's just that he's a biker and stunt driver. We were hoping to question him on his involvement in certain activities last night," the man responded.

"Sorry can't help you, but I just got into town this morning and I'm still new to the biker scene thing. Means I can't tell you the secret handshake for this area or anything," she explained to the cops.

"Oh," Dutch said disappointedly. "Well thanks for looking this over without threatening to kill us. "

"Right," the girl said nodding. "I got the books I told you that I needed for my travels," she said flashing a smile at the store owner already dismissing the two detectives.

"Right, then get out of here you got yourself a long road ahead of you," the shopkeeper told her. The girl flashed a smile of thanks before walking out leaving the store own and the detectives. "Now that you've just run my nicest and most interesting customer in years do you have anything else that you need?" The storeowner grumbled at the pair before him.

"No, thanks though," Claudette said as the two left the bookstore to head to the next store on their list.

* * *

Angel groaned as he leaned against the wall of his friend's office. "Have you found anything Wes? I've been up and down the sewers more times than I can think of and there's nothing out there. If there is a Rider in the city its lying low."

"No," the watcher returned tiredly. "There's nothing out there. Every time I think I have a lead on where it might be it turns out to be a dud."

"What about a locater spell?" he suggested.

"No, that won't work either, I've tried various variations of the spell and every time the results come back as negative. Whoever or whatever it is that has the power of the Rider must be protected by several spells that block out anything that I'm capable of. Any of the more powerful ones would require a piece of the being for it to work."

"Keep trying the sun is beginning to set."

The Watcher nodded as he looked at the sinking sun for a moment before turning back toward the books.


	4. Shield III

Another chapter another declaration of having no ownership rights. Am I fogetting anyhting? 

* * *

Buffy glared at the warehouse that she stood before. After a few hours of research she hadn't found anything informationy wise like. Not something that she was very happy about. She had forgotten what doing research on your own meant. She had gotten used to having three or four people, that were able to sit down and help her look through the pages upon pages of books. It was not something that she enjoyed, and she would be so glad when she got back together with the others, then there could be research parties when there was a need for saving the world. For now though, she would just have to do this on her own.

She had left the research on what she had become, to deal with the demon she had been sent after. It hadn't been that easy though. She had been sent on a chase all over the town. After the train yard, it had been the docks, then two different houses, one in Byz Lat's territory, another on the One-Niners' turf, and after that she had finally arrived here at this warehouse. It was always a warehouse where the fight happened and she couldn't believe she hadn't anticipated it. She had kind of hoped that her new bad guys would have a bit more class than that. Seriously, abandoned warehouses were just so cliché these days.

As she approached the doors to the warehouse, she noted the multiple locks on the doors. She pulled the scythe out of its sheath on her bike and swung. The blade slashed through the various chains and locks on the door, the various items clanging as they struck the ground. The blonde then reared back and kicked as hard as she could, shattering the doors and sending them flying, as they skidded into the room. She waltzed inside, and as she did that a new set of doors slammed down trapping her inside and blocking out all of the light.

The blonde tightened her grip on her weapon as she made her way into the darkened room. She thought back to all of her training under Giles, and dredged up memories on fighting the unseen. It would be a lot like the time that she fought Marcy, she idly wondered what had ever happened to the vengeful girl. "So tell me," she called out into the darkness. "Are you just that ugly, or are you really shy?" A whistling sound was all the warning that she got, as she raised her weapon. Something metallic clanged against her blade causing a small flare of sparks. Just as quickly as the blow had come the pressure was gone though.

Buffy grunted as she felt her arms tingle for a moment from the sheer power of the blow. Whoever or whatever she was dealing with was possibly stronger than she was. "Awe, did I hit a nerve there?" she questioned her opponent mockingly.

A sound from behind her caused her to perform the splits. Something big and heavy brushed over her head, and connected with the person in front of her. The howl, and the wet feeling of blood hitting her clothes let her know it had been good for her. Had she been there when the blow connected, she would have been sliced in half. She jabbed backward with the stake side of her weapon, and the squeal she got back let her know where her enemy was. She pulled it out and rolled out of the way. The sparks that rose from where she had been standing was enough to tell her she had barely moved quickly enough. She brought her own weapon down on around the area the sparks had been and a growl and a thump let her know that she had at least disarmed one of her opponents maybe even taken it out of the fight. She spun and kicked the demon she had wounded away.

She then turned to where she thought that the other demon was, but was hit from the side by a powerful punch that sent her flying into a wall. The blonde hissed in pain, as she was sure her ribs were anywhere from bruised to cracked from that blow. She couldn't let a whole lot of those shots hit her without becoming a lot broken or something like that, which was so not the way that she wanted to end things.

She flipped herself back up and slammed her fist into the body she could kind of sense. The pain she got was worse than she expected, as the skin on her knuckles split from hitting heavy scales. "Great, heavy armor or scales," the blonde grumbled. "No fair making it so I can't punch you by the way," she spun with the scythe and winced as the other blade countered her ,then as her partially numb fingers tried to hang onto the weapon it was knocked from her grip and sent clattering off to the side. Now she was in the dark, without a weapon, against at least one demon that she could only hurt with a blade, and could see in the said dark. A punch to the gut sent her flying back to the ground. She began climbing back up only to roll to her side as several blows hit there. The next few moments were a blur, as the blonde did her best to guess where the next attack would come from. The blade was easier, as it made a whistling sound before it struck, but the kicks and punches were hitting her more often than not.

She felt the demon pick her up and throw her across the room again as if she was nothing. Buffy tried climbing back to her feet, and as she did she felt her hand brush against the blade of the fallen demon. She curled her body around it hoping that the demon wouldn't notice the weapon. She heard the heavy footsteps of her opponent, the clink of the blade as it trailed along the ground, it stopped before her, there was the sound of movement as the sword was raised into the air, the whistling sound as the sword began to fall. Buffy had to time this just right. She rolled to the side the blade bit into the top of her shoulder as she thrust her stolen blade upward. There was a gurgling sound for a moment, and then the body of the demon slumped down on top of her.

A clapping sound echoed throughout the building as the lights came on. Standing on a stairwell surrounded by various demons looking down into the makeshift arena was Soul Boy. "Not bad girl, not bad at all," the demon complimented her. "If you're who I think you are then you're early though," he looked her over critically, as if searching for something as the blonde pushed the dead demon off and climbed to her feet. "Most of your kind knows better than to try and take my kind on before nightfall. For a Rider to come here before then makes me wonder just who you are though. You're either new to this business, or very confident in your abilities."

"Who me, I'm nobody just a messenger," Buffy returned as she tried to stem the blood flow from the deep cut in her shoulder.

"Right," the disbelieving demon drawled back at her. "Just like nobody took down those two," Soul Boy said, pointing to the pair of downed demons. "Now, just who the hell are you?"

The blonde sighed as she realized she wasn't going to fake her way out of this one, at least not like this. "Fine, I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer." As soon as she said that there was a rush of murmuring from the crowd of demons. "I take it you've heard of me?" she joked, as she saw how her name affected the various demons above her. One moment they had been somewhat amused by her, and now they all were staring at her with hatred and fear.

Soul Boy seemed to be just as shaken by the revelation of just who was facing him as the other demons were. "You're Buffy Summers, the original Chosen One and Vampire Slayer? The defeater of Lothos, Glory, Faith the Vampire Slayer, and the First, the one that managed to permanently close the Sunnydale hellmouth a few months ago?" he questioned her in a disbelieving manner.

Buffy flipped her hair back at this and gave a mocking smile. "Yep that's me, I didn't know I had such a fan club out here though."

"I always thought that you would be taller," Soul Boy commented, still trying to get over just who it was that he was facing off against.

"Yeah, yeah, you and everyone else, can you at least try to come up with some conversation I haven't heard before?" Buffy shot back at him. "I mean not everyone can be Lucy Lawless, and Angeline Jolie, you know? That was one nice thing about fighting it out with the Mayor; he at least knew the use of banter, and the value of a good pun," she shot at him. "He was always so original, and always managed to freak you out, despite the fact he talked like he came out of some T.V show that my mom or even grandma might have watched."

"What are you even doing here Slayer? This ain't your turf no more, hasn't been for a while now," Soul Boy said, ignoring her words, as he tried to regain control of the situation that he now found himself in.

"I told you, I'm delivering a message," she returned to him with an innocent smile.

"This ain't the Hellmouth girl, we do things differently here," Soul Boy told her defensively.

"You forget buddy, this is my hometown," Buffy returned to him. "I know exactly how things work here."

Soul Boy looked uncertain at that. Slayers had never been a big concern to him before, he had always been protected by his association with Mephisto. Now though Mephisto had sent a Rider after him, and what was more this Rider was a Slayer. "Tear her apart," he ordered. Several of the minor demons and vampires that were there nodded their heads and charged at the blonde.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she began fighting them. She had fought off an entire army of super vampires that were stronger, faster, and uglier than most of these guys, there was no way that she was going to let this guy beat her with these morons.

Soul Boy watched in shock, as the small blonde seemed to dance between his people like they were nothing. This shouldn't be possible, yet as he watched, it was happening. The blonde despite her heavy injuries from fighting some of better demon guards was cutting a hole through the various vampires' and demons with near ease. It was like she was dancing a deadly dance, and those that didn't know the steps were the ones that died. "I see, so this is why she's still alive then. So much skill and passion put into the fight. It's no wonder that she is still alive after all this time," he noted to the others who were watching with him. The demon was intrigued by the Slayer and what she was doing. He wasn't a spirit based demon, but he was much more powerful than your average vampire or demon as well. He also had something that most other demons didn't have, he had a contract full of souls he could use the power of the souls to supercharge his own abilities if he really had to. "Would you pansies kill her already?" he demanded of his people. "Despite her abilities she's only a human!"

The blonde laughed at that comment. "You don't have any idea how good it is to hear you say that Soul Boy," she said as she sliced the head off of a nearby vampire. Despite how good she was though, the demons were slowly overwhelming her, the sword was snatched from her hand and she was forced to the ground.

"That's better," Soul Boy said nodding to his people. "Kill her now before she tries to cause anymore troubles."

"Too late," the blonde said, as she pushed the demon on top of her off and with a few jumps was in the rafters and out of their reach. A couple of demons followed after her, but they were knocked down into the various crates, one of them even died as it fell onto a spike. The demons looked a bit worried as they watched her, because if they followed after her, it would be one on one fights instead of using their numbers to overwhelm her.

"Okay, it's obvious the usual and old ways aren't the right way of dealing with her," Soul Boy noted to his minions. "So if you guys would be so kind as to shoot that bitch down from there before she does anything else to mess things up. We don't even know if this is the Rider, or just a Slayer bitch sticking her nose where it ain't wanted."

The various remaining demons and vampires nodded as they all drew various weapons from their clothes. A few had mini crossbows, but most of them carried guns of various makes and models. The weapons were aimed at the girl and there was the sound of thunder, as the guns spat out their bullets toward the slayer. She grunted as several bullets found their marks and tore through her body, she was knocked from the rafters, and tumbled to the ground.

"Got to admit you didn't make it easy on me and my crew Summers," Soul Boy said as he came down the steps and looked at the bloodied downed figure. "I mean seriously, you took out about half of my crew before I gave them the okay to shoot you," he complimented her, as he looked her over with a smirk. "Even you can't stand against me though, I'm just way too powerful for a little one like you to be able to deal with." He crowed out, getting a cheer from his followers as they reveled in the strength of Soul Boy.

"Hey Soul Boy, you wanna know something?" the blonde rasped from where she was lying in a small pool of her blood.

"What might that be hero?" the demon asked in amusement, as he looked at the figure beneath him.

"You talk way too much," the girl said as she mule kicked him into a wall. "And if I'm saying that, then you got to know there is someone doing a lot of talking. I mean, I know that as a bad guy you have to do some monologuing about how great you are and all, but there's a certain limit that people are going to be willing to listen to you," she informed him informed him with a smile. "Guess what, its sunset," she said with a smile.

Soul Boy watched in awe as the girl's body seemed to erupt into flames and leave just a leather clad skeleton in its place. "Oh crap," the demon said, as it understood what was happening. The Rider was coming out to do its duty.

The flaming skeleton stretched its hand out into the air, and the Slayer scythe rose from the ground and flew towards its hand, as it moved it passed through a demon and a vampire, turning both of them into flames. Once the Rider had the weapon in its hand, it preformed a slashing movement and flames seemed to arc out of the weapon giving it a longer reach. The flames destroyed the remaining vampires, and burned the various demons as well.

"Neat trick," Soul Boy complimented, as he climbed to his feet. "I've been working for the big man a lot longer than you have though. It's going to take more than a bit of hellfire to take me out," he informed her as he shrugged the last bits of hellfire away from him as he faced off with the Rider.

The Rider snarled back at him in defiance as it twirled its weapon in a deadly, burning display of grace and death.

"Oh yeah that's right, you can't talk very well like that can you?" Soul Boy mocked the being before it. "Do you even know what I can do with those souls? They give me power, more power than you could believe. I use those things, and tossing me around is going to be far from your list of things to do today," the demon informed her with a smirk.

Slayer Rider snarled back at him in defiance, as if daring him to prove himself against her.

"You want to die hero, that's fine by me," the demon said as held his hand up, and the soul contract appeared in a burst of flame. "I'll make you nothing but a skeleton, and there won't be any coming back after I'm done with you," the demon promised the figure before him. The contract glowed for a moment, and then the glow traveled from the paper into the body of the demon. He glowed for a moment before he turned to look at the Slayer Rider. Soul Boy's eyes now glowed, his already impressive height seemed to gain another foot, and his muscles were now bulging. The demon held its arms out and flames rose and formed into a giant battle ax.

_**"I'm going to turn you into kindling,"**_ the demon swore, as it rushed forward toward the Rider. Slayer Rider met the charge, and the two powerhouses collided against each other. Flames licked around both of them as their blades clashed against each other. The two powerful beings danced around each other their weapons striking each other, but never their intended targets. Soul Boy leaped back and performed a downward slash in the air, and a wave of hellfire flew out.

Slayer Rider slashed from shoulder to shoulder, sending a wave of hellfire out as well. The two flames met and canceled each other out. Soul Boy landed, and the two stared at each other, their flames flickering as they tried to predict what the next one would do.

_**"You can't win,"**_ Soul Boy snarled out in a deep echoing voice. _**"Even if you do manage to beat me, what then? What are you going to do then?"**_ he taunted her with a sneer. _**"You think that you're going to be able to get away from any of this? Once Mephisto gets his hands into you, there's no getting away no matter what you may think. You're just going to be his pathetic little lap dog till he don't need you no more."**_

The two charged again, this time though Slayer Rider made a whistling sound and a demonic bike came crashing through the wall even as the Rider released another wave of hellfire. The two moves were enough distraction for Soul Boy to lose track of his opponent. Slayer Rider appeared to the side and sliced through the demons arm with the blade of the scythe.

Soul Boy screamed out in pain as the arm and ax fell to the ground. A kick sent the demon flying through several crates of various types. The demon hugged the stump of its arm close to its body, as it tried to climb back to its feet. It never had a chance as it looked up to see the slowly approaching Slayer Rider. The creature twirled its weapon a few time before inserting the scythe into the chest and yanking it out, as fast and as quickly as if staking a vampire with the same weapon. The Slayer Rider held its hand out, and flames shot out of the weapon and the contract that had the names of the various souls appeared in its hand. The weapon had somehow sucked the souls out of the demon, and had now been reformed into the contract from before.

"I'll see you in hell," Soul Boy promised in a weakened voice before he exploded into a giant fire ball. The explosion knocked Slayer Rider away and left a large pothole in the floor.

The Rider shrugged its shoulders as it tucked the contract away and mounted its bike. It made a pair of diagonal slashes at the door, and two waves of flame erupted from the blade making an X burn mark on the door. Popping a wheelie, Slayer Rider crashed though the weakened metal. As it came to stop on the other side, it saw several various police cars and numerous weapons were now pointed at it. Slayer Rider snarled out at them in defiance, causing several members of the group to shake in fear, but somehow they still managed to stand tall and united against the Rider.

"This is the police! Surrender yourself at once, or we will open fire!" Aceveda said over the bull horn toward the flaming thing before them. It was hard to believe that this was actually a human underneath all of the flames. He didn't have a choice on the order though, the person had just firebombed their second building while the police stood there. This had to end now before someone else got hurt. The police captain noticed that the figure hadn't raised their arms or gotten off the bike. Instead they were just sitting there waiting for the cops to make the first move. "Take that person down!" he ordered the surrounding cops.

"With pleasure," Vic said from where he was holding a rifle. "You heard him boys take this joker down," he said into his radio. Various weapons began firing and everyone watched as the bullets didn't even seem to affect the figure. The demonic looking figure on a bike popped another wheelie and rode through the various policemen and women. Lemonhead and Julien even took a chance by launching themselves at the bike but were quickly knocked back by the flames that burned them.

"Now!" Wagenbach shouted and two streams of water from fire trucks slammed into Slayer Rider. The water striking the Rider caused all sorts of steam to rise and the sheer pressure knocked the Rider and bike several feet back. When the water was shut off, the people could see the dripping Rider slowly rising to their feet.

"How about you stop now? You don't look nearly as scary without those flames," Wagenbach said calmly in a condensing manner.

The creature laughed as it gestured with its hands. Urging him on.

"Hey Vic, he's still not giving up," Dutch told the other officer who nodded as he and the rest of the Strike Team moved in.

"Music to my ears Dutch Boy," the other cop said as he strode toward the creature. "Remind me to thank you for this," he added with a grin, as he and the other members of his team started swinging at the leather clad figure. With a grace that was unexpected the skeletal figure side stepped the various punches, and returned with much stronger blows that hit their targets. The various police tried to swarm the creature and all they seemed to be doing was annoying it though as its blows got stronger and it began downing various cops.

"Any other bright ideas Dutch?" Vic shouted from where he was desperately holding onto an arm. The creature gave a roar and shook all of them off. It then picked Vic off of its arm raised him in the air, and then slammed him into the ground.

"Vic!" the rest of the Strike team called out as they watched their friend hit the ground, the man quickly rolled out of the way of the thing that had casually tossed him to the ground before it's foot could slam into his gut.

"I'm fine," the man grunted, as he was helped to his feet.

The Slayer Rider snarled at them in anger, before slamming its hand into the ground it created a ring of fire that caused the various people to jump back. The creature seemed to be staring at each of the various officers as if judging them for their various sins. It focused on the Strike Team in particular though.

_"Guilty,"_ the creature rasped out at the special team, and seemed to release a special flame at the group of cops.

Lemonhead grunted in pain as the flames seemed to dance over him. When the flames died down he was in pain, but could still move somewhat, he felt like he had just walked out of a burning building where the flames had hit him. Shane and Ronnie were down on the ground screaming in pain, their skin blackened by the blast of flames that had hit them. Vic was also on the ground, though not in nearly as bad condition as the other two he still looked pretty bad, but the stocky man was somehow ignoring the pain and forcing himself back up to his feet, his eyes hard in their resolve to stop the creature before them.

"Alright now that hurt," Vic rasped from where he was kneeling, as he tried to force his way back up to his feet. Two of his men were down, while the third member was actually looking to be the best out of all of them. The flames seemed to have caused him a boiling pain on the inside, unlike any fire attack that he had ever seen or heard of. Shane and Ronnie were helpless though, considering the fact that they had what looked like 3rd and 2nd degree burns all over them. He had a few major burns on him as well, but he was still conscious, and willing to try and stop the guy that was trying to take him and his team out.

The two officers wearily climbed back to their feet and rushed the fiery, leather clad figure. The creature roared and backhanded them, sending them back to the ground.

The creature then turned around and grabbed an attacking Julien by the front of his uniform and reared its fist back. Just as it was about to let it's fist fly though it paused and examined the dark skinned patrolman. _"Innocent,"_ it declared, as it dropped the man and then brushed past him. The Rider casually walked over the bodies of Vic and his team and got on its bike and roared away.

"After it, I mean him," Aceveda ordered, urging his men up. The police took off after the cyclist, and watched in awe as the figure seemed to go faster and faster. The creature flipped them off before going even faster the road behind it becoming torn up and lighted in flames. The destroyed road caused the cars to either sink in the tar or to tumble out of control.

Vic Mackey glared at the disappearing fiery figure. "Damn it!" the man said, as he kicked the melted tires in anger. He didn't know who or what that was, but it was a lot more than he had been expecting, and Dutch better have some answers as to just what that was, or he was going to tear the smug bastard a new one. As it was, he and his team were probably going to need to spend some time in the ICU after everything that had happened tonight.

~~~

The Slayer Rider intended to ride all the way out of the city without looking back, the only problem with that plan though was the vampire with a soul that dropped down in front of it. The motorcycle pulled up to a stop, while the fiery figure regarded the vampire that had decided to bar its departure.

"All right, that's far enough," Angel commanded, as he leveled a sword at the creature. "This is my city, and I don't like it to much when people go about and destroy it, so I'll take those souls as payment for all of the damage that you've caused."

The Slayer Rider ignored the vampire, and merely revved the engine as it prepared to drive through the vampire if it didn't get out of its way. A muttering voice came from the side and Wesley fired a bolt of magic at it sending it flying off its motorcycle. The creature growled, as it slammed its hands into the ground and pushed itself up.

"Wes, hit it again," Angel ordered as he threw several knives at the creature.

"Powerful spells like that can't be conjured in a moment Angel," Wesley said as he began gathering magical energy for another attack.

The Slayer Rider turned to face the Watcher, and he realizes that despite having hit the flaming skeleton with one of his most powerful spells the most he had done was knock it off balance. Gunn appeared and slammed into it, only to be stopped full on as he hit the creature. Fred came in next shooting a stream of liquid nitrogen at the creature. The creature leapt back and drew a weapon from its back. It sliced downward and flames shot out of the weapon and struck the gun, slicing it in half. Turning, it caught Gunn as he tried to attack again, and threw the lawyer into the scientist. Wesley had finally gathered enough energy for another magical shot and fired at the creature.

They all watched, as the large spell of magical energy was casually deflected to the side by the blade, and slammed through a building causing it to explode.

Angel moved in, and began swinging his sword around, he was about to drive it into the creature when the Slayer Rider caught the blade between its palms. _"Angel,"_ the creature moaned out at him.

The vampire froze at that, as he had seen that move before along with it knowing his name it was just a bit unnerving. The surprise was enough for the creature slammed the hilt into the face of the vampire dazing it. While he tried to regain his bearing he was grabbed by his jacket and tossed into Wesley. The Watcher couldn't move out of the way quickly enough, and the two fell down in a tangle of arms and legs.

The flaming skeleton whistled and the flaming motorcycle came up beside it. The creature sheathed its weapon before leaping onto the bike and roared away.

"Think it's running away from us?" Fred questioned the others, as they all climbed back to their feet and watched it speed away. "Yeah, I didn't think so either," she admitted at the incredulous looks that the others were sending at her.

~~~

Slayer Rider rode for a long time until it was on the highway and there was no one else around. As it roared down the highway it saw a figure seem to appear out of thin air. The Rider stopped barely missing hitting the figure.

"I take it you have it then?" Scratch questioned his servant with a smile.

The creature nodded, and reached into its jacket and retrieved the contract. It silently offered it towards the Deal Maker.

"Very good," Mephistopheles complimented, as he took the contract from his current Rider. He examined it and nodded before making it disappear. The two figures then regarded each other for a few moments. "I have another mission for you my Rider," the slumped shoulders and the weakening flames made him smirk at the figure. "You thought you were done? Not by a long shot. As a Champion, your soul is actually worth a lot more than many of the souls that offered them for something like drugs, money, and women. I would have thought that you knew that," the demon said with a mocking laugh. "Have fun with your next job," he said with a laugh as he disappeared as quickly and silently as he had appeared.

The Ghost Rider wavered for a moment before it nodded it knew where it had to go. Revving its engine it took off leaving a trail of fire behind it. 

* * *

Don't fret, we're nowhere near done folks.


	5. PretenderInterlude

Pretender-Interlude

Let's see making a brief showing to prove that Morgimir and I are not dead but are both very busy with school work. Along with not owning the BTVS reality (Joss) or the Shield (FX), the Ghost Rider (Marvel), I also lay no claims to the Pretender one either (TNT/NBC).

* * *

Buffy found a motel to sleep in a few hours after waking up, and was soon dozing away in the nice comfort of a bed. When she finally woke up sometime in the early afternoon she got up and showered. She wondered where she was now, and where it was that she was heading this time. She didn't remember much about last night, but she did remember that the boss man had told her all of the low life souls that she had collected last night didn't make up for her own soul in the balance of things. She grumbled a bit at that, having hoped that it would be just the one job then the debt that she owed would be paid to the Demon Lord. From what she remembered of her fragmented memories though, it seemed like she had only just begun to pay her debt. She wondered if this is what the First Slayer had meant by her saying she didn't really know what she was. She really hoped not, because that was creepier than she really wanted to consider.

The blonde left the motel and found a restaurant to eat at. She sat at the bar where there was a T.V, and watched as a news bulletin started flashing across the screen about last night. The blonde watched with mounting horror as she saw the wake of destruction that she had left in LA. It seemed that she destroyed a couple of warehouses, a half dozen police vehicles, all sorts of cosmetic damage to another few buildings, melted various roads, and part of the California State Highway, add in several disappearances, and several injured cops and she was just relieved she hadn't killed anyone that wasn't on her target list or at least she didn't think so. As it was, it seemed that she had done more than enough damage to her former home.

It was just hard to believe that she had done all that damage. Sure she had burning the gym down, blowing up her school, and sinking a town under her belt, but those were next to nothing it seemed when you considered all the damage that she had done last night. The fact that most of that damage had happened without her really trying scared her even more though. She watched as a burning figure that was her demon form, casually toss the various cops around, beat them down, or blow things up. Her greatest fear was becoming too powerful, or becoming something other than human, and this was what had happened to her it seemed.

She was dragged out of her shocked daze, as some well dressed Hispanic guy on the T.V ushered someone else to take the news podium. She was a little bit surprised when she recognized the detective as the one that had been asking her questions the other day. Detective Wagenbach smiled weakly at the gathered news crews.

The detective nodded toward the various people as he worked his courage up to begin his report. "Um hello," he greeted weakly. "The person that we're dealing with that did all of the damage to the city is no longer in the city. Most likely they're lying low after their little adventure last night, and are patting themselves on the back with having managed to do it and get away with it. There is a small chance that they may come back for another attempt though, so we will be consolidating our forces to see if we can't locate them. Again though, it is highly unlikely that they are even still in the city anymore." He informed them.

"And why is that detective?" one of the reporters questioned.

"Because we're dealing with a copycat of an incident that happened in Austin a few months ago," the man replied in a knowing superior tone.

Buffy's head shot up at hearing that bit of information. If what he was saying was right, then there might be others out there that had been cursed like her. Maybe they could tell her just what was going on with her, and maybe they could tell her how to get out from under the thumb of her boss. She never would have thought there was an employer that she disliked more than Quentin Travers and Maggie Walsh, but this demon made the list with ease. Too bad he was powerful though, hell he had even taken over her slayer dreams, and she hadn't thought anything could disrupt that particular reception.

"Do the police actually know anything or are they just guessing?" Another reporter quizzed the detective. "Do you have any leads onto the person that conducted this attack on the city?"

Wagenbach nodded his head. "Based on our observations of various things including clothing, measuring shoe sizes, and observing actions we believe our suspect to be female, between the age of 19 and 30, probably of short stature. She is a well rounded person, having experience with special effects, knowledge of the occult, trained in martial arts, knows about animatronics, possibly skilled in mixing special batches of steroids, and skilled in the use of the motorcycle. With the readiness that this person engaged and ignored police commands we're probably dealing with someone that has a past record of some sort with the authorities somewhere. This person will be someone that has followed the career of stunt driver Johnny Blaze, and probably has a reputation for mimicking famous stunts of his. The person is either upper or middle class, since some of the things needed to pull a stunt like this off doesn't come very cheap or off the counter either. The person we're after is a fan though, and just trying to emulate Johnny Blaze. Since Blaze was the primary suspect the last time something like this happened before he disappeared off the grid its possible this person will follow their example. We also have artists using the flaming skull from last night to create a sketch of what the person may look like depending on how tight fitting the skull helmet that they wore is. Once we have more information than that we'll inform the public, but that is all I have at the moment," the detective seemed very proud of himself as he rattled off the small mini profile that they had already managed to put together on the Rider.

Buffy squirmed a bit as she heard the basic profile that was being rattled off toward everyone. It was actually uncomfortably close to who she was. If this guy had known about magic, she wouldn't be all that surprised if her face had been up there. As it was, the guy had enough that he would probably be able to identify her if she did much more than she already had. The more distance she put between herself and L.A for the moment, the better off that she would be.

"Fascinating isn't it?" A tall dark haired man questioned with a knowing smile, as he popped a PEZ dispenser open, and ate some of the candy tablets. "It's really amazing all of the work and effort that someone would put into covering their tracks don't you think? Why the sheer amount of work that it requires is astronomical." The man declared sounding somewhat impressed at all the supposed work.

"Maybe," Buffy said uneasily, "I'm sure that they had a reason for doing what they had to do though as well. Not everything is as obvious as it appears."

"True," the man said brightly, "which brings up the question of just what is it that they were trying to find though," he offered his hand to the blonde. "My name is Jarod." He added as he offered her his hand.

"Buffy," the blonde returned with a smile of her own as she shook the man's hands. The bright smile on his face reached both his eyes, and reminded her of a little kid that was experiencing the wonders of the world for the first time ever. It was comforting to say the least.

"Would you like some?" Jarod questioned, as he offered her some of his candies.

Buffy chuckled a bit, as she accepted the candy dispenser. She could sense sadness in this man, but there was something else that she sensed, that something was innocence. She didn't know who or what he was, but she figured that he was a man worth knowing. "So what are you doing in a little run down town like this Jarod?" She asked the friendly man, as she handed him the dispenser back.

"Oh I'm searching for my family, I was separated from them at a very young age. All I have to go on are these pictures though," he said sadly, as he reached into his jacket, and showed her a picture of a redheaded woman. "There have been a lot of bumps in the road making it somewhat difficult at times," he explained to her.

The blonde nodded her head in understanding. "Yeah, but you know what?"

"What?" Jarod returned curiously.

"Family is so worth all the effort that you put into it, just don't forget that there are more types of family than the one you have by blood. Don't let the bonds of your other family get broken because you're so wrapped up in trying t find your birth family. I've learned over and over again, that there are people that care for me greater than I would ever believe that aren't even related to me. Sure some of them have tried to kill me before, but now we're all bound by more than we can ever explain," the blonde smiled fondly, as she thought of all of her friends, her family. "Something amusing?" She asked, as she saw his knowing smile.

"Not really, it's just your friends and family, sound a lot like some of the friends I have," Jarod explained to her.

The blonde nodded, glad that the man understood what she was saying and talked with the man for the next half-hour. They told of their families that were bound to them by blood and by things that they couldn't quiet explain.

"Well Jarod, as fun as this has been I have to get back on the road," Buffy said, sorry to find that the Rider side of her was urging her onward toward the road once again.

Jarod nodded his understanding. "That's alright, I have to get going too," he said, as he pulled out a red notebook and turned to the waitress. After a few words, and an exchange of money the two were heading towards the door. "Oh dear, it looks like I guessed wrong on the time table," he noted, as he looked out the window to see several people in suits heading for the diner. In the lead was a tall woman in a leather skirt, jacket, and with dark sunglasses over her face with a deadly handgun out. Beside, and a little behind her seeming to be almost strolling along as if to get a bite to eat was an older man with thinning gray hair, and next to him was a short bald man that was nervously stumbling along with them.

"Let me guess, the three in the middle are your friends and family but they're also trying to do other things as well," Buffy said knowingly, as she watched the group split apart.

"You could say that," Jarod agreed as he watched them come closer.

"Hope you don't mind if I do this then," she said, as she tossed him over the counter and turned to face the group that was entering through the front.

"Nobody move," the brunette woman said in annoyance. "Sam, start searching the place top to bottom," she ordered one of the larger men.

"You got it Ms. Parker," The man returned, as he began to examine the various people in the diner.

Buffy let out a chuckle as she got up and headed towards the door. The woman did just as she hoped and focused on her. "Sit down Missy," the woman growled, as she raised her gun and pointed it at the leather clad blonde.

"Something tells me that you must be Miss Parker. You're the only person I know of that's as arrogant as you and carries a gun. You almost got a snarl as good as Cordelia though," she offered the other woman with a mocking smile.

"So you're Jarod's latest little friend then?" Miss Parker said with a feral grin.

Buffy rolled her eyes at this. "I see why they needed to add a psychologist to the team when they got brain trusts like you leading these guys."

The woman narrowed her eyes and pulled the hammer back on her gun. "You better tell me where Jarod is now, or I'm going to have to put a bullet in that big mouth of yours," the woman said in a deadly tone.

The blonde laughed at the threat, she had faced off against some the darkest things in the supernatural world, hell she was one of the darkest thing of the supernatural world. No woman with a gun and a stick up her ass was going to intimidate her no matter how freakishly tall she was. Her foot shot in the air, and knocked the gun out of Miss Parker's hand. She then twirled herself into the range of Sam, and two of his men and performed several lightning fast blows. That ended with the three men being slammed into the window and cracking it. The blonde turned to look at Miss Parker who was scrambling for her fallen gun, while the other two men were moving out of range of the fighters. Buffy's hands snatched up some fallen steak knives and threw them. One knocked the gun away and two more pinned the long jacket to the floor forcing the woman to stop as she tried to struggle out of it.

Buffy smiled to the two non-fighters. "She's really got some anger management issues," she noted to the men.

The older gentleman tried his best to hide the smile that was trying to come up at that comment. "Indeed she does, I'm afraid that she hasn't had the best of life's though."

Buffy nodded her head, "Well as fun as this is, I have to go. The waitress over there has the notebook for miss attitudinal. A friend of mine would suggest that she try and get laid, but that's up to her. If you guys promise to behave, I won't have to knock you out or tie you up for trying to get in my way though," she offered to the two men brightly.

"Oh but of course," the man said with a smile. "I must insist that you call me Sydney though," he said, while offering his hand to the young woman before them.

"Pleasure to meet you Doc," Buffy returned with a smile. "I hope that you're not to insulted that I don't feel like telling you my name, but somehow I have a feeling that your people would want to use that bit of info against me and what not. She'd at least want to have round two," she added, nodding towards Miss Parker.

"That is understandable I suppose," Sydney agreed, as he stepped back allowing the girl to gather her jacket and leave. "A most capable young woman wouldn't you agree Mr. Broots?" He questioned the computer specialist, as he took the notebook from the stunned waitress. "I can see why Jarod befriended her, if she is always so willing to defend her friends like that."

Buffy quickly mounted her bike and took off not really wanting to chance that someone decided that she might be worth stopping. That woman looked like she had a vindictive streak a few hundred miles wide. Not really someone that she wanted to have on her tail, besides there was also a chance that they might place her as the L.A rider after her little show of power. As she got ready to head out, she saw Jarod in a beat up car preparing to turn the other way. The two exchanged a smile and a wave before they each turned their own way. They each had their own missions and families to find. She let her instincts guide her for now, hoping that they wouldn't lead her into more trouble. She figured she might as well start riding, the farther that she got from here the less likely it was that people would connect her with the Rider or anything else.

The blonde was soon on the road, and followed her instincts on where to go. How much was her, and how much was the Rider she didn't know, but she would do her best t get the job done as she needed to. She looked up at the sign that was on the side of the road as she roared down the road.

_Now Entering San Francisco_


	6. Charmed I

Charmed I

We're back with another chapter. Lets see don't own Buffy (Joss) Ghost Rider (Marvel) or Charmed (WB)

Buffy found herself a nice place in San Francisco to relax in after all of the hard riding that she had done. The room she had rented for the last week had given her time to study the various books she had gotten from the shop owner, and to add a few more to her meager collection. The bad side of riding around on a motorcycle was that she only had a limited amount of space for anything that she might want to carry. It kind of made her wish that she had the Mary Poppins bag with her sometimes, that would make packing so much easier for her. A part of her wished that Mephistopheles would appear and give her the next assignment, but there was something nice about getting to enjoy the city life for a change after spending so much time in the small town that was Sunnydale. And how was it that the guy had such a crazy name? She much preferred Scratch, and was pretty sure that she would just have to keep calling him that instead of that crazy name. If she wanted to use a name like that for him she would go with Memphis.

The only bad part she had really had was that there was the small fact that her new boss was still hijacking her Slayer dreams. She still wasn't sure how he was managing that, but it gave her brief hints and ideas on just what it was that she was looking for in the city. When her dreams were active she saw someone or something with a flaming weapon of some sort she also sometimes saw some odd lizard like guy behind him watching over him. There were other demons as well, shouting a name that she couldn't quite understand. She wasn't sure what exactly they meant, but hopefully in time they would start making sense. Maybe if she was lucky she wouldn't have to go all growley again to find the thing this time either. Scratch was mainly giving her hints right now it seemed, hoping that she would be able to figure out what it was that he wanted her to do before he made her transform. She had taken the hints to heart though, so while she was in the city, she had rattled a few cages down trying to get the lay of the supernatural wasn't a whole lot that she could do until the boss man decided to call on her, and give her more information for whatever job he had for her, but learning what she could about it was helpful.

The demons here were different than most of the ones that she was used to fighting. Back in Sunnydale, demons and vamps liked to get in your face during their fights. Here though, the rules were different, they used energy attacks of various types, it was a lot like fighting some of the characters from some of Andrew's Japanese cartoons that he was always jabbering about. On the plus side though, her scythe seemed to be able to block the various attacks that got close to her with the same ease that of any other attack. The demons were also a lot like vampires in that they could look human if they wanted to, and blend in a lot better than most of the demons she was used to. Another difference was that the demons here wanted to rule the world, but have humans as a type of slave or food source, the only ones that they didn't want anywhere around them seemed to be the good witches that she had heard about, but had yet to see any of these supposed good witches anywhere. It seemed that if they fought demons she would have seen some of them by now. It was like they didn't search for them, but waited for them to come and find them. That was sometimes an alright strategy, but hardly the best one considering some of the things that seemed to be out there and hunted for regular people.

The blonde read a few lines from her book about the Rider. According to the book, it was an elemental being, that used the power of fire. The person that held the spirit of fire was then capable of summoning the use of fire in small bursts as required. Buffy held her hand up and stared at her hand for a moment. She closed her eyes and pictured the flames that she had seen so many times from the various fires in her life. She opened her eyes in shock as she saw a flickering flame in her hand, looking around she aimed the small fireball at the trashcan and grinned as it blasted the small plastic item to bits. "Oh wow, head rush," the blonde noted as she got a little wobbly from using the flames of the Rider while not powered up. 'Using the flames while not in her flamey looking self, evidently used up a lot of energy of some sort. She would have to be careful,' she thought to herself as she held her head. She concentrated again, intent on making a few more fireballs before the day was over. Besides, it was a cool new trick to be able to perform. Faith was going to be so jealous when she saw her again. As she did this, she was unaware of the marking that were coming up on her skin. The markings were the same as the tribal ones that the First Slayer had.

While she was practicing with her new ability, the echo of her power was felt throughout the supernatural world, causing many of the various beings to stop what they were doing and wonder what was causing the ripple effect in the power of the city. The Elders and the Source turned their gazes to trying to find what had caused the echo that they had sensed, and try to determine whether or not it was good or evil. Each side scrambled, as they tried to determine which side this new and unknown player was going to fight for. None knew who it was that had invaded their area but they all knew that there was likely to be a number of changes do to the new power that had entered into the city where they raged their own battle of good vs. evil.

Mephistopheles laughed as felt the Slayer tapping into the power of the Rider, and just knew that it was going to cause all sorts of trouble to those in the magical world. It was time for him to release his Rider onto the people here. It was time for them to know what happened to those that tried to steal from him. 

* * *

Three sisters were enjoying a relaxing morning, as they had spent the night before dealing with a demon that was preying on innocents that felt depressed and alone. These sisters were some of the only ones in all of San Francisco that were capable of fighting the demons and other supernatural beings. They were the Halliwell sisters, known through the world of magic as the Charmed Ones, a group of prophesized Wiccan witches with amazing abilities. The eldest, was a short woman with long brown hair and brown eyes named Piper, her power gave her the ability to manipulate things on the molecular level either freezing them, or causing them to explode. The middle sister Phoebe, had short hair and bright eyes, her abilities were the power of prophecy and self levitation, she was also a skilled hand-to-hand fighter. Then there was the youngest of the three Paige Mathews, the half-witch half-whitelighter sister with pale skin and colored hair, her ability was to move things with her mind and teleportation.

"So, you think they'll care if we told them that we want the day off?" Phoebe questioned her sisters, with a dry chuckle that the other two echoed.

"Yeah I'm sure that will happen," Paige returned with amusement toward her sister. "I think we should look on the bright side though, and the fact that a lot of the lower level demons appear to have taken a vacation," she pointed out to the other two witches. "I mean, it does save us from having to do the pointless battles with the minions before the main bad guy, since they're all out of town this week it seems."

"Yeah, which just leaves room for all of the bigger, and meaner demons to try and take us on," Phoebe shot back at her sister playfully. "It does save on time though," she agreed, after a moment of thought. "Not having to go through all of the minor league players makes it somewhat easier."

"C'mon, we need to finish filling in the book," Piper told them, as the three women made their way upstairs to the attic where the family magic book rested. The Book of Shadows, was arguably one of the most powerful magical texts in the world, having information on thousands of different types of magical creatures, spells, potions, and types of magical gifts. The book was also semi sentient as well, able to protect itself, and move itself around to a limited degree. As the triad of witches finished up with the book, adding in the new information on the type of demon that they had defeated they closed the book, and then watched as it forced itself back open and began flipping through its pages.

"Oh come on! Don't we at least get a 24 hour break or something from this stuff?" Piper complained to the book in irritation, as her eyes narrowed at the large book on the pedestal.

The book ignored the outburst of the eldest sister, and continued flipping through pages, until it came to rest on a picture of a flaming skeleton upon a flaming horse, which looked like something out of a museum exhibit as they could now see the various bones through breaks in the flesh. The creature was dressed in what looked like western themed clothing, in one hand it held the reigns to the horse, while in the other it held a rifle.

"So who do we have now?" Piper questioned with a growl, as she continued to glare at the book, as if it was at fault for the new threat that they would be facing.

"Let's see, the Rider, or Ghost Rider, is the primary servant to the Demon Lord Mephistopheles or Mephisto."Paige told her sisters, as she read from the Book of Shadows. "He is also known to sometimes go by the name of Scratch.

"Wait, what, Mephistopheles, like the demon from the Dr. Faust poem Mephistopheles?" Phoebe questioned her sisters worriedly, her eyes bugging out slightly at that as she looked at her sisters slightly worried at the prospect of fighting such an old demon and well known demon. It was her experience, that the more well known or famous a demon was, the more likely it was to be extra powerful.

A large pile of blue and white lights appeared to fall from the air in front of the witches before turning into the image of a tall blonde haired blue eyed man. He was Leo Wyatt, the husband of Piper, and also the whitelighter, or guardian angel to the sisters. "The poem was based on him," he explained to the sisters after he solidified. "If we're lucky though, we won't have to worry about him, and just have to worry about his messenger the Rider," he nodded toward the book where the image of the Rider before them.

"This guy looks dangerous," Paige noted, as they focused on what the book said about their new enemy. "If I'm reading this right, then this guy may be as powerful as Cole is when he's at full power," she cast a guilty look toward Phoebe as she mentioned her ex husband.

Phoebe ignored the looks that the others were sending her and instead was grimly focusing on the Book of Shadows.

"If the power surge that we felt up there earlier today was any indication then this person is probably even more powerful than Belthazor. An energy attack was sensed earlier, but it was a lot more powerful than your basic demon attack," Leo informed the witches. "The Elders are still trying to track exactly where the energy ball came from, but something is blocking them from getting an exact location though, which means some sort of shields are interfering with them."

"Well at least on the good side we know what we're dealing with," Paige said trying to sound somewhat upbeat about the current situation that they were in.

"Yeah great, we know what's coming after us, but we don't know where they are or what their human form is, if they even have one, looks like or even why they're probably after us this time," Piper grumbled to her sister. "What else does the book say Phoebe?"

"Um let's see, it says here that the power is not within, just the person, in fact the power of the Rider is like a host ability, it needs to have a human host to do anything," Phoebe said after a few seconds of reading.

"Wait, that thing is a human?" Paige questioned nodding toward the picture in disbelief, "As in an alive human?"

"That's what the Book says Paige," Phoebe returned to her sister.

"Leo, honey," Piper said looking at her husband, "care to explain?"

The Whitelighter nodded his head in agreement with his wife. "Riders are people that have made deals with Mephistopheles in exchange for his help in some deal or other he gets the ability to summon someone to be the Rider by stuffing the power into them and turning them into his very own errand boy. Usually it's for one big job though there have been times when they've been tsked with going after several different things before their contract is paid in full."

"So they could be anyone, whenever they're not looking like horror movie rip-offs?" The eldest of the Charmed Ones grumbled at her husband and the others.

"Seems so," Paige said in agreement, still in shock about what she was hearing.

"Great," the eldest witch huffed.

"Alrighty then, how do we vanquish it then?" Phoebe questioned as silence descended on the group. "The Book of Shadows doesn't have anything in here on how to destroy it, or how to take the power of the Rider out of the host," the witches turned to look toward Leo, hoping that the Elders had given him an answer on how to battle their new opponent.

"Leo," Piper demanded looking her husband over with a demanding look.

The whitelighter shrugged in confusion. "The Elders were hoping that a Power of Three spell will either drive it off, or capture it," he admitted to them looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, is that all?" Piper questioned, somewhat sarcastically at hearing what the Elders were wanting them to do this time around. "You know, I really miss the days when the spells to beat the demons were either in the book or the Elders could at least give us an idea as to what it was that we're facing," she informed him in annoyance.

"That's part of the price you pay for being as strong as you are though," Leo informed her, as he gave her a brief hug to settle her down. "Because you are so strong the underworld has to really work on finding demons that are a threat to you," he assured her in a comforting voice.

"Fine," she said grudgingly, "what else do we know about the Rider anyways?"

"The Rider is usually a collector for Mephistopheles, performing a task, or series of tasks in exchange for something else," Phoebe read out to the others, repeating what they already knew.

"Anything else on it?"

"Well there is this," Phoebe said, as she pulled newspaper that was a couple of weeks old out and the sisters saw the figure of a flaming skeleton astride a motorcycle on the front page. "It looks like our Rider has already been a bit busy lately in running its errands," she informed them, as they saw a picture of the Rider in the LA newspaper.

"This is not good," Leo said, as he looked at the picture fearfully. "Do you have any idea at the repercussions that this could have on all of us?"

"Relax Leo, everyone thinks that it's a copycat crime of something that happened in Austin a few months back," Phoebe assured him.

"So the Rider has been seen twice in the last year then?" Leo questioned, sounding even more worried now, instead of calmer like the witch had hoped.

"Yep, sounds like it," Piper returned to her husband blandly as she read the article. "From what we've got here, it looks like the Rider has strength, durability, and lots of hellfire abilities," she noted, as she skimmed the article.

"We have to stop this thing before it draws anymore attention to the magical world," the Whitelighter declared to the sisters. "If this thing were to ever be captured, it could be the end of everything that we've worked for."

"Fine, we'll do what we can, maybe a banishing or exorcism backed up by the Power of Three will be enough to get rid of it," Phoebe suggested to the angel, as they tried to figure out how to deal with the creature that they were now going against.

"You do realize that they won't be overly powerful unless we can get a piece of the Rider though right?" Paige questioned the others. "Without the extra oomph from a potion, they probably won't work as well."

"Good point," Piper said to her sister before turning to face her husband. "Get your angelic butt back up there and find this thing so that we can try and get a piece of it for the potion, preferably before it tries to come and find us for whatever reason that it thinks that it needs to take us on."

The man nodded his head at them before his body broke apart in small balls of light as he orbed himself away from the witches and headed upwards. 

* * *

Buffy had stopped throwing fireballs, and was going through some practice drills that she had created for the scythe. The images upon her face had disappeared as soon as she had quit actively calling upon the extra power that resided within her. The fireball process used up a lot of her energy, and at the moment she only had the energy to do a handful before she found herself out of whatever demon juice she used to create the things. The attacks also took far too long for her to form for them to be of any use in a combat situation unless she was having to hide from something shooting at her. The attacks might be of some use to her someday, but at the moment they were just cool toys to play with right now. Although she had to admit they were a lot cooler than using a crossbow.

The blonde wasn't going to worry about that for now though she thought, as she began showering and changing into different clothes. She had been nervously waiting for nearly two weeks for her luck to change and for Scratch to come back and tell her what her new job was. She was tired of waiting, and was going to spend at least one night here enjoying herself. She had spent too much time worrying about which way Scratch was going to jerk her collar towards. The way she saw it, she had earned the night off from all of her problems. Now as long as her usual luck didn't happen and she wound up having to get all flame like. There was a club that she planned on going to, and she was going to go and party at it.

Buffy smiled as she entered the club, it was like a more adult version of the Bronze, except that the band here didn't suck but was actually somewhat decent sounding. That was a major change from listening to the stuff that Dingoes Ate My Baby used to play. P3 obviously had a good reputation, judging by all the people trying to get into the place. Buffy had managed into it because she scared a lot of the people that tried to intimidate her into giving her spot in line up. Tonight she was girl though, with no worries as far as she was concerned. There was no one and nothing that was going to screw this night up for her.

Buffy smiled a bit as she danced to the beat of the band. Tonight had been everything that she had hoped for. Nothing had tried to kill her, lure away any other unsuspecting people to kill, or sacrifice for anything, yet. As an added bonus, she had made friends with the sister of the manager/owner of the club. Friends like that usually meant free, or discounts on drinks, which was always a nice thing to have. In fact, the pale skinned woman was gesturing her towards a small booth in the back where two other women were currently sitting. Weaving through the various other people with the hidden grace of a slayer she approached the group.

As she joined the group she took stock of the trio of siblings. The three sisters of various athletic builds sat at the table that they used to hold court at was fairly unnoticeable, but allowed a person to scan the entire club if need be, it could also be used as a meeting place since it was slightly off by itself. Whoever, or whatever these sisters might be, the blonde was betting that they were a bit more than just regular folks. There was just something different about them, either that or they were very well prepared for anything that might happen. It was something about the way that they carried themselves, similar in fact to the way that trained fighters did, they were dangerous and they knew it.

The blonde smiled at the group as Paige began the introductions. "Guys this is Buffy Summers, she's taking a road trip, and is in town for a few days. Buffy, meet my sisters Phoebe and Piper Halliwell," Paige introduced, as the various women exchanged waves and smiles with each other.

"Pleasure to meet you," Buffy informed the two sisters, as she took the offered seat.

Phoebe pushed the pitcher of beer toward the blonde who glanced at it nervously. "Um no offense or anything, but can I get a longneck?" Buffy requested of the server who nodded and wrote down the request.

"Is there something wrong with the tap?" Piper questioned, a bit worriedly and defensively as her taps were snubbed, her mind already going into what she would need to do to fix any potential problems that they might have.

Buffy smiled at the woman in return. "I sincerely doubt that there's anything wrong with your tap, I just have an aversion to the tap after a particular college incident," the blonde explained, as she accepted the long neck from the server, who quickly left the sisters and their new friend.

"Sounds like you have yourself a story there," Paige said, as she urged her new friend on. The other sisters nodded, and looked at the blonde eagerly. Anything that got their minds off of the new extremely powerful demon in the area was something that they would love.

"Yeah it was something," the blonde agreed hesitantly, "turned out the owner was feeling bitter about all of the college students making like jerks and insulting him and his intelligence all the time. He finally decided that enough was enough and he spiked the tap for his special brew. While under the influence I reverted to a kind of cave Buffy you might say, and ah, I, I, tried to sleep with one of my best friends since high school," the sisters all winced at this. "Fortunately for me, he was happy with his girlfriend at the time though, and managed to convince me not to do anything about it. Thus I no longer have any trust in the flowing goodness that is that of the tap," Buffy finished telling her story without revealing anything important.

"Makes sense," Phoebe said nodding her head in understanding," if that had happened to me, I probably would stick to bottles as well."

"Yeah, same here," Piper said in agreement, feeling somewhat guilty over her reaction to the other woman's drink choice. It sounded as if the girl had been a victim of some form of modified date rape drug. It fit with what she knew of the drink, and that was about as far as she wanted to think about the matter.

"Ah look I'll be right back," the blonde informed the sisters as she slipped into the crowd.

"Perfect timing," Phoebe muttered, "come on, I just saw some demon lead some kids out back," she said ushering her sisters to follow her through the crowd.

"Right," Piper said relieved that the blonde had left when she had so they wouldn't have to try and explain this to her. It looked like some demons were using the back of their club to attack some innocents, and it was always tricky explaining why they had to leave for that. The sisters moved to the back door and were nearly knocked over by the group of disheveled girls that was rushing back inside with fear in their eyes. The sisters shot each other curious looks before they entered the alley. They could see a pair of demons in their last moments of life right before they blew up. The sisters looked around, but couldn't see any sign of whomever, or whatever had dealt with the demons.

"So what do you think?" Piper questioned her sisters, as she knelt down to examine the demon remains.

"I think that our mystery demon killer has made another strike," Phoebe told her sisters.

"Gee ya think?" Paige shot back sarcastically.

Before any of the sisters could say anything else a heavy body flew from beyond them and slammed into a dumpster. The sisters turned to see the back of the blonde that they had been talking with a few minutes ago standing over the demon with some sort of ax in her hand. The demon climbed back to its feet, and extended a set of claws from its hands, and the two figures began a deadly dance of life and death.

Phoebe, the best hand-to-hand fighter amongst the sisters watched in appreciative awe as the blonde pummeled the demon. The blonde was performing moves that the witch had only ever dreamed of using. The grace that she was using those moves spoke of long hours of using those moves in training and in actual fights. It was something that the young woman had never had a chance to see before.

The blonde knocked the demon back into the dumpster, and the fading sunlight made it look as if she was on fire. A final desperate lunge by the demon ended with it impaled on the sharpened end of the weapon. The blonde withdrew her weapon and shook her head in a bemused way as she watched the demon burn itself up. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to demons that manage to clean themselves up after getting killed," she noted to herself. "I am also so not looking forward to going back to dealing with the ones that aren't as concerned about the environment and what not as your kind are," she added in to the remains of the demon.

"Okay ,I'm impressed," Paige said from where she was standing watching the blonde that she had befriended earlier.

"Uh, yeah, ditto," Phoebe said in agreement, still in shock over watching what Buffy had managed to do with the demon. It usually took the sisters bouncing a demon back and forth to destroy it simply because they couldn't always compete with demons on the same levels that they could, and sometimes had to find alternative methods of fighting them. This girl had managed it somehow, and met it blow for blow.

"Protectors," the girl rasped out in a dark voice as she looked the trio of witches over with interest. The apparent image of flames surrounding the girl seemed to flare brighter for a moment before it died down. The girl shook her head for a moment before she faced them. "So, since you're not running away, acting like you're in shock, or making with the fainting or denial, I'm going to guess that you guys are aware of the bump in the night sort of things, and I don't have to explain things to you. Unless of course those were your minions, in which case it means that we have a bit of a problem, though I doubt that they were yours. Still, it might be nice to know if we're going to be trying to be killing each other and all that. So, what's the what?"

"Well personally, I prefer not to try and kill people that are dealing with demons," Piper said from where she was standing. "It saves a lot of time when someone else is doing it for us, and lets us focus on keeping the club and other things going."

"So, not trying to kill each other it is, that's always of the good," Buffy agreed with the woman with a bright smile, which the sisters warily returned.

"So who are you really?" Phoebe questioned curiously, as she watched the younger woman.

The blonde flashed the sisters a confident smile, "Buffy Summers, the," she gave a guilty smile, "I mean A, Vampire Slayer, there is no more comma the, for me anymore," the bright look in her eyes let all of them know that this was something of great importance to her.

The sisters shared a confused look at the odd comment. "Right, well we've got to get inside now," Piper said as she ushered them all inside.

Once they were all seated Buffy looked the sisters over curiously, "So, who are you guys," she questioned them, "some other type of demon hunters?"

"Sort of, we're the Charmed Ones," Paige explained to their guest.

"The Whatums," the blonde asked them in confusion, "does that have something to do with Lucky Charms or something like that? Cause I gotta say, I don't think that you guys would look that great running around with bowls of cereal all dressed up in green. Although Xander and Willow would probably enjoy watching you do something like that," Buffy added in as she looked the group of sisters over.

"Okay that was kind of random," Paige said with amusement, "I think that's the first time I've heard that one."

"We're witches that are supposed to stop the really powerful dark demons, warlocks, and whatever else tries to end the world or take over," Phoebe explained to the blonde that was staring at them intently. "We're prophesized as being the ones that would deal with all of the problems."

"Huh, so the Chosen Ones of the Witchy world then?" Buffy pressed, as she tried to understand the sisters and what it is that they did.

"Yeah, when we're all working together we're the most powerful witches on the planet. "Paige said with a smug smile.

Buffy let her eyes pop open at that statement, she had always thought that Willow was her go to person when it came to magic. No one had ever out done Will's when it came to magic, to find out that these three could out do her best friend was something of a surprise for her. "Wish I had known about you guys a few months ago, it would have made things a lot easier with this one thing that I was dealing with," she complained to them.

"So, what are you exactly, I mean we know that you're a Slayer, but what is a Slayer?" Paige questioned curiously as she looked the girl over with interest.

"Demon fighter," Buffy returned, "I fight everything that tries to kill me or end the world. You know the usual kind of thing. I have the whole enhanced strength, speed, weapons skills, and prophecy dreams that comes with the whole Slayer package."

"Whoa, no fair, you have all the physical ass kicking powers as well as prophecy?" Phoebe whined toward the blonde. "That is so unfair, that's the kind of power that I wanted."

"Yeah, but for the most part I never had people like you have to fight with," Buffy returned t the witch. "Trust me, having someone that can fight with you is worth more than any number of little powers," the Slayer assured the witch with a knowing look in her eyes.

The sisters glanced at each other for a moment and nodded as they looked their family over. They would all have been dead a hundred times over if it wasn't for their unity as a family.

"So, what brings a Slayer to our little town?" Paige asked.

"I'm here on a bit of a working vacation," Buffy explained to the sisters, "for the moment I'm merely waiting for the word on what I need to do next from the person in charge," she explained somewhat evasively to the sisters.

"That's the problem with prophecy powers, you have to interpret it," Phoebe said in an understanding way. There had been many times when her visions were more confusing than anything else, and she spent half her time trying to figure out what all her vision had meant.

"Yeah, and they never tell you anything cool like the weather or what the latest fashion is going to be either or anything fun like that," Buffy said in agreement.

"True," Phoebe agreed with the other woman, "and the one time I tried to use my powers to win the lottery with my power the numbers disappeared from my ticket right after the numbers had been announced. I had to return this gorgeous dress because of that to," she added sadly, sighing as she remembered the party dress.

Buffy winced in sympathy at the other woman's loss. The two shared knowing smiles, as they thought back on some of the things that they had learned from their visions and what they had meant.

The witches and Slayer then began exchanging stories with each other as they told of their various adventures. For tonight they had someone that could understand their difficulties, and they didn't want to lose a chance to make a friend.


	7. Charmed II

Its back for the moment folks.

* * *

The Rider was moving through the city, the flaming messenger was searching for its prey. It stopped in front of a bar, sensing multiple demons from within and a trace of the demon that was seeking. Dismounting, the creature stomped forward and pushed its way through the doors. Several demons with human like appearances froze as they saw the fiery figure entering into the bar, they could all feel the raw power that the creature had in it. The various demons knew that there was an unknown predator that was attacking their kind, and so some had taken to taking over the various bars to give them a fighting chance with sheer numbers for whatever had been trying to take them all down.

The Slayer Rider growled at the group as it observed them all. "Abraxes," it demanded of them as it named its target to the assembled demons.

"You must be Mephistopheles Rider that we've been hearing so much about, he did warn us that he would send you if Abraxes didn't hand those souls of his over." One of the demons said, as it looked the Rider over with casual indifference. "Thing is though, is that your master forgot that he doesn't run things here. In this city, it's the Source that calls the shots here not Mephistopheles. We had a fairly big welcome planned for you when you came too, it was going to be great, but then we've had the problem of having a lot of our cannon fodder being killed before we could do anything. Even with our recent losses though Rider, we should have more than enough to deal with the likes of you."

The demon reared back and started tossing energy balls at the Slayer Rider. The Rider reflected the attacks and everyone ducked as they slammed into various walls.

"Abraxes," the Rider growled out at them again.

"Forget it freak!" The demon said, as he fired more energy bolts at the Rider.

"Stop," another demon ordered as it placed itself between the two. "You know very well that despite its mission that the Source said that the Rider is to be treated with the utmost respect, and that we are to allow Abraxes to fight his own battles. Unless you have some sort of understanding with Abraxes then I understand and won't try and stop you. Just don't expect us to fight your fights for you." Several other demons nodded their heads and muttered their agreement before they shimmered out of the room, leaving only a handful of demons left to go up against the Rider.

"Are you crazy? This thing is a direct challenge by Mephistopheles, on the power of the Source in this city. It comes here and starts making demands of us saying that we turn Abraxes over to him, and Mephistopheles expects us to just roll over and do what he says? Well not me." The demons that had remained nodded their heads in agreement and raised their hands as energy balls formed in them.

The demon that had tried to stop them shook its head in disgust at them. "Think carefully my brethren, and remember that this is not a casual witch or warlock that you're facing off against."

"Bah, you always were a coward and a fool." The other demon returned with a sneer. "Destroy this wannabe demon." It ordered. Several energy balls erupted from the force of demons. The Slayer Rider roared at them in defiance, and drew the weapon off its back and began deflecting the various attacks away from it. The demons unfazed at the defensive measures that the Slayer Rider was taking threw themselves into the fight.

"Very well then, I hope you all burn." The demon that had tried to stop them said as it then shimmered out of sight. It reappeared up above the fight and watched as it progressed.

The fight was not so much a fight as it was a slaughter 25 mid-level underworld demons verses the Rider. The fight was nowhere near evenly matched. The Slayer Rider snarled as it tore into the crowd of demons. The scythe twirling in one hand the creature engaged its opponents by grabbing one of the demons. The Rider threw the demon across the bar, and into three others. While the others were shocked at this the Rider switched the attack by using its weapon and a swiping at the assembled demons. The blade covered in hellfire ripped through two different demons. The demons screamed as the energy from the blade tore through them. Ducking beneath another blow, the Rider sliced the leg off one and backhanded another as it came up again. With another swing of the blade flames erupted from the blade and fired towards the demons. The rest of the fight was similar to the rest, as the demons were torn through until the only one remaining was the leader of the demon pack.

The Slayer Rider growled, as it grabbed the demon and lifted it up by its throat. "Where?" The creature growled out at the figure.

"Go toss yourself into the underworld," the demon choked out at the fiery figure in defiance.

"Your target, and the souls that you wish to locate are not here Rider." The demon that had watched from above said as it shimmered back down before the pair. "I suggest you hunt elsewhere for your prey." He suggested to the creature.

The Rider seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding and threw the demon into a wall and swung its blade at the other demon. The demon barely managed to shimmer out of the way in time and reappeared next to the downed demon. "Time to go," it said as it grabbed on and the two shimmered out of the way of several hellfire flames that would have destroyed them. The flames instead tore through the wood, and into the various bottles of drinks in the store room and the bar was consumed by flames. The Slayer Rider focused on another trace for the souls and the demon thief and moved on as it mounted its bike. There were other guilty figures for it to hunt down.

* * *

The two demons reappeared in the underworld huffing and puffing from the effort that the near miss with the Rider had given them. "Come, we must inform the Source." The demon that had managed to get the two of them out reminded its companion.

"Damn Rider managed to burn me." The other demon complained, rubbing its neck where they could both see the burn marks of the hand that had held it.

"I warned you not to get into a fight with the Rider," the other demon said knowingly. "You're lucky that all you got was a brand on yourself, there are a lot of others that didn't get that lucky. Now come on, we have to explain the situation to the Source and why there are a lot fewer forces in its ranks now thanks to your bungling." The other demon scowled, but nodded it head in acceptance.

Moving swiftly through the darkened tunnels the pair made their way to the throne room of the Source. The black cloaked figure looked up at the two figures that had rushed into the room. Demons moved forward to stop them, but moved aside at a wave from the Source. The pair quickly knelt before their Lord.

"What news do you bring of the mortal world?" The Source questioned the pair of demons. "Even down here we have felt the surges of power that have been rumbling throughout the place0."

"Mephistopheles agent now rides in San Francisco; it is searching for Abraxes, and seems determined to find him and retrieve the souls that he managed to acquire from some of Mephistopheles other people."

"Keep the Rider away from the underworld for the night." The Source commanded to the pair. "I must decide on just how to deal with this irritation that has come along."

"Dealing with the Rider is not something that is not something that one does. If the legends on its skills as a hunter or tracker are correct then there is something to its abilities that allow it to sense wherever its prey is makes it particularly difficult to distract. That doesn't even account for what it does to those that it decides are evil or guilty. With the recent loss of most of our lower level demons having been destroyed due to some unknown hunters or witches that we have yet to see there are no demons that are low leveled enough to rate casually sacrificing or strong enough to help slow it down by much."

"I don't care how it is that it's done," the Source returned waving the pair away from him. "Do what you must to keep the creature busy. If you are both worried at the difference in power though borrow some of mine and perhaps it will allow you to hold up against this Rider." The Source raised its hands and fired an energy bolt toward the pair of demons. "This should level the field somewhat against it."

"As you wish," the pair of empowered demons, said bowing and turning away from the Source.

The Source waited until the demons were gone before speaking again. "What do you have to say for yourself? Your actions have brought that Dealer and his Enforcer to my city. I do not like it when problems like this are drawn to my lands."

A new demon stepped out of the shadows and crossed its arms over its chest. "You knew when you allowed me to enter your ranks here that there was a chance that they would come here and demand that I turn myself and the souls I had taken over to them. You were the one that thought it would be amusing to challenge Mephistopheles on the ownership of souls in this city."

"And I shall indeed do so, but until then I want you to find yourself one of the other dimensions to hide in. That should be enough to keep it distracted." The Source informed the demon. "I have other plans for the city and world, I want this thing dealt with. Prepare yourself for the upcoming battle, the Rider will not be easily distracted I give you this night to ready yourself afterwards though this is your problem."

"As you command," Abraxes said to the Source.

"Just remember, you have this and only this time to deal with this intrusion into my city if it becomes anything more and not even your father being an elder demon will protect you." The Source informed the demon ominously.

Abraxes scowled at this threat. "My father is more than capable of dealing with any threat that you could try and throw at me," The demon growled as he reached for a weapon at his side.

The Source responded by raising its hands and sending a stream of energy that slammed into Abraxes and lifted him up and tossed the weaker demon into the wall. Abraxes groaned as he fell into the wall. The demon's skin smoked and there were burn marks appearing from where he had been hit. The Source loomed over the fallen figure, and despite not being able to see the face of the figure there was looming over him. "I have not given off enough of my power to truly weaken me. Remember your place little demon." The Source informed the other demon, as it looked down at the fallen demon prince. "Your father Abrasax, *is an extremely powerful demon and rules several dimensions of his own, but those are his accomplishments not yours little demon. If you want respect then earn it and make yourself a demon of worth not the weakling that you currently are."

Abraxes nodded glaring at the Source angrily before he shimmered out of the chamber.

* * *

The Charmed Ones were currently working on trying to find out where the Rider was at so that they could try and stop it before it caused any kind of damage that couldn't be easily explained away. Paige was scrying for the Rider with a map and crystal, while Phoebe was meditating and trying to focus her premonition powers while holding a newspaper article from the LA incident. While her sisters were doing that Piper was mixing the most powerful basic vanquishing that they had. It was doubtful that it would actually stop the demon but there was a good chance that it was likely to drive them off.

Leo watched over the sisters hopefully as they tried to figure out where the Rider was and how they could stop it with what they had. "Anything?" The Whitelighter asked the pair hopefully.

Piper turned away from her potion making. "Honey, you know that it's hard to scry for one particular demon, particularly when it has all sorts of spells covering it that make tracking it a hard thing to do. It may help that the demon is destroying all of the demon hideouts, but it's still hard to track when it's like this."

"Yeah, at this rate all of the demons are going to have to relocate or something because so many of their hangouts are being destroyed." Paige joked at the others, as she looked up them. "If we don't get in its way, we might actually have some time off."

"You know, she has a good point," Phoebe said as she cracked an eye open. "And I'm still getting nothing all that helpful. The only thing I see is someone fighting, but they're covered in flames and seems like they need help of some kind. It's one of the more confusing visions that I have had and just don't understand." She admitted to her sisters.

"And what about all of the innocents that will be caught in the crossfire?" Leo questioned the sisters curiously. "The Rider is an elemental creature that doesn't seem to have any sense of right or wrong, but merely focuses on its target without any care. It's why people usually try not to anger Mephisto. The Rider is believed to be more powerful than most things. No one wants the Rider around, particularly in this day and age because of what it is that it can do."

"Oh yeah, kind of forgot about that." Paige admitted a bit sheepishly.

"Uh yeah, ditto." Phoebe agreed, before turning back to her meditations.

"Then there is the fact that you have to deal with the fallout of what could happen if the mortals decided to notice just what was happening." Leo continued as he looked the sisters over. "I don't think I need to remind any of you of what it cost us last time that happened?" He asked them.

"Prue," the two older sisters said sadly, as they remembered their eldest sister and what she had done to keep all of them safe.

"Exactly, so we need to find this thing before it decides to turn our entire world upside down." Leo said solemnly. "If we don't there's no telling what may or may not happen. The Whitelighter told the witches solemnly, hating the fact that he was using their dead sister's memory to emphasize the importance of what they were potentially facing.

The witches all returned to their duties with a seriousness that they hadn't had earlier as they tried to consider everything that they knew about the mysterious Rider as they prepared themselves to do battle with the creature that in its own way threatened their very way of life.

The sisters were drawn out of their thoughts as the crystal that Paige was using began to focus on a certain area and glow dully. "I think I got something," the witch informed the others, as she circled an area on the map that her scrying had detected.

"Good, where's it holed up at?" Piper questioned with interest.

"More like where is it attacking now." The pale skinned woman returned to the other. "It seems that our demon is in the downtown area."

"That makes sense, the Rider doesn't do much hiding." Leo said in agreement, "its more like the assault force or crazy commando, maybe even better considered as a force of nature."

"It also goes with the news reports of their being some sort of riots in the town and that it would probably be best for people to stay in their homes." Piper said, nodding toward the television where a news report was going on.

"Yeah, according to this the thing is downtown, which I'm betting that is where all of those riots are and that whatever is happening is really the Rider." Paige said as she analyzed the situation as the newscast was telling them it was.

"Good, let's get going. I want to stop this thing before it becomes something that we can't deal with." Piper said as she began bottling up the various potions, the mentioning of Prue had set her on edge.

Paige nodded her head in agreement and picked her phone up and began dialing a number that she had gotten earlier that night. She frowned as the line went directly to a voicemail instead of having anyone picking it up like she had hoped. "Hey, it's Paige, I was going to invite you to help us with a demon hunt, but I guess you're busy with other things tonight. Call me when you get this."

"Who do you know that would actually be able to help with dealing with anything that we deal with?" Leo asked incredulously at the casual way that the young woman had summoned help. The last person that the sisters had that was to be of any help them had been Cole. He was now curious as to who this new potential ally that Paige would call on to help them without getting so much as a concerned look from her sisters.

"Hmm?" Oh right, you were up there talking with the Elders when that happened." Paige said realizing that the Whitelighter had no idea of who their new friend was. "I met this girl called Buffy Summers last night. She's supposedly some sort of super demon hunter with a few extras like witches. She didn't really talk all that much about it other than what she could do though."

Leo looked at all of the sisters in surprise. "You met Buffy Summers, as in the Vampire Slayer Buffy Summers? Do you guys have any idea of the honor it is to meet her?" The Whitelighter questioned the sisters.

"I know she's a good hunter and all, we saw how she managed to deal with that group of demons outside of the club, but what's so special about her?" Paige questioned her brother-in-law with interest.

"I know of her by reputation," Leo informed them. "She's beaten several legendary figures."

"Yeah like what?" Phoebe questioned with interest, whitelighter gossip sounded interesting to her.

"She's faced off with Dracula and managed to force him to leave her town, beat a hell goddess, a warlock that turned itself into an elder demon somehow, stopped an ancient portal to a demon dimension from being completely opened, and somehow destroyed some sort of mortal-demon-machine hybrid that was threatening the balance and secrecy of our worlds. She did all this while acting as guardian to a hellmouth that attracted various demons and vampires that were trying to open the portal up." Leo said animatedly. "I mean I know you guys have dealt with your own impressive array of creatures, but for the most part she's had to do a lot of it on her own or with the help of allies that she picked up along the way."

"Impressive," Paige said dryly.

"All the more impressive when you consider the fact that Slayers usually only last a maximum of three years. Buffy Summers on the other hand has managed to live for nearly nine years, she's working on her ninth year now as I understand it." Leo informed them.

"Awe, you've got some hero worship." Phoebe said with a smile as she looked the man over.

"And what exactly are Slayers?" Paige asked with interest. "Buffy didn't get into it much and all, you seem to be telling us is that they're some sort of guardians or warriors of some type and we haven't had time to look them up in the book yet either."

The man shrugged his shoulders at the witches. "No one knows what they are for sure, or if they do they never told me about it" He admitted to the sisters. "I've heard some rumors of course, but no one has ever been able to give me a definite answer about just what it is that they are though."

"And just what do these rumors have to say about them exactly?" Piper questioned her husband with interest.

"Some say that their power comes from the essence of some old god, others say that they are descendants of some sort of magical creatures, I've heard a few speculations that they're primal avatars for beasts, and even a few that think that they might be the children of the Earth itself." Leo said, as he began listing some of the better known theories that he had heard from other whitelighters over the past few years.

"Personally, I want to know why you're so impressed that she's been alive so long." Phoebe said as she gazed with interest at the whitelighter.

"We can continue this after we manage to stop the Rider." Leo said, not wanting the sisters to get mad at him and be distracted over something that wasn't even his or the elders fault. The Slayer and Champions of her kind were not exactly given the best of lives, as they lived often short and violent lives without the benefit of the blessing of times three that dealt with witches like the sisters.

The sisters looked at him curiously and he knew that this conversation was in no way over, but it was put on hold for the moment as they worried about other things. They all gathered together and holding hands orbed themselves out of the attic and into an alleyway. They carefully stepped out into the open and saw that across the street was a burning building where there had been a bar of some sort. They also saw a set of flaming tire tracks that seemed to be leading away from the area. There were also several emergency vehicles that were surrounding the area that were either putting out the fire treating the few survivors or taking statements from people who had supposedly seen everything. One of the men in a rumpled suit and tie saw them and seemed to sag their shoulders in exasperation before quickly moving forward to confront the group before anyone else noticed them.

"Phoebe, Piper, Paige, Leo." Inspector Darryl Morris greeted the group. The dark skinned man was the former partner of Andy, Prue's on again off again love interest. The man was following in his old partners steps, and helped the sisters out in various things that allowed the sisters to know what the official line was sometimes and gave them access to records that helped them figure out what was going on.

"Hey Darryl," Phoebe returned with a smile, as they watched the building before them begin to crumble.

"Please tell me that you guys weren't involved in that." He pleaded of the sisters, as he was nodding towards the building remains. "I seem to remember being told that both Prue and Phoebe had a thing for flames when they were younger."

"Hey!" Phoebe mocked complained toward the inspector. "We weren't that bad, and I can't believe that Andy told you about that either."

"Actually it was Piper that told me." Darryl returned to the girl with a smirk before his face lost all humor and stared at the sisters with worry. "Do you guys have any idea what happened here though?"

Paige nodded her head sadly at the man and he seemed to age before their eyes as she explained just what it was that had done this. "Unfortunately yes we do, it's a type of demon bounty hunter and it's a whole lot more dangerous and powerful than the ones that went after Cole though. It's trying to find some other demon and some stuff that it took. The bad part though is that it has no idea what the words subtle mean and will simply tear or burn its way through the city until it finds whatever its searching for."

"Great, a loose cannon, that's just what we don't need to have around here." Darryl complained to the sisters. "As if it wasn't bad enough with all of the weird stuff that we usually have going on, now we have sort of super demon bounty hunter in town as well? I thought that it was your job to deal with these sorts of things?"

"We're doing our best." Paige returned to their friend.

"Yeah, add in a demon that works for another demon that is at least as powerful as the Source and we're all having so much fun." Piper added in dryly, as she glared at the man before them.

"Great, so we've also got a demonic turf war spilling out into the city as well." Darryl said tiredly, though looking somewhat happier at that. "I can at least use that as some spin to keep the other cops busy while you try and find the thing that did that." He said nodding toward the remains of the building. "I thought you guys said that there were rules that prevented this sort of thing from happening though?"

"This one doesn't play by the regular rules." Leo explained to the other man.

Darryl nodded his head in grudging acceptance of this. "Fine, is there anything else that you can tell me about this thing?"

"It's in the LA newspaper." Phoebe said, trying to be helpful as she pressed her newspaper into the hands of her friend.

The man shook his head as he looked the picture over of just what it was that they were facing off against now. "I'll try to take the lead on the investigation, though I may have to use this as well to help me out." He added as he pocketed the article. "I'll do my best to keep people out of you way while you guys do your thing though." He promised them.

"Thanks Darryl." Phoebe said giving him a hug, which the big man returned.

"Hey don't worry about it, you guys gave me something that will help me out actually and I can use the evidence from other people as a comparison even if we never actually catch this thing it won't look too bad. Besides, do you know how bad the guys in Austin and LA want this person? Let's just say that there is a lot of people after them and leave it at that all right?" Darryl said with a grin. "Being the guy that ID'd who we're after should be enough to put me either in command or at the very least on the team as well." He added to them.

"Alrighty then, you handle it from your end and we'll handle it from our end." Phoebe told their friend.

"Sounds like a plan." Darryl said in agreement. "I want you all to be careful with this thing though." He warned the group. "From what you've told me this thing is a lot more powerful than you're used to, and it doesn't care if it gets seen by regular people. It's a lot more dangerous than you would believe if it's as much of a rogue as you've been telling me it is. It's also destroyed parts of two different major cities just by driving by so be careful there's no telling what it could do."

"We'll do our best." Paige promised the man with a bright smile.

The inspector nodded at them before he wandered back over to the other emergency workers already going over in his head the best way that he could get himself assigned to being a part of the team that was going to try and figure out where this person was. The fact that it had severely injured an entire district of officers made him want a piece of it all the more.

"Well come on, we better see if we can't find out where it is now." Piper returned to the others. "Leo, do you know of any other places that this thing is likely to look that are around here?"

Leo was lost in thought as he considered what he knew of the demon community in this area. "I know of a few places that might have what we're looking for." He admitted to the sisters. "However, we have to be careful, because if I guess the wrong bar then we'll probably be fighting a bunch of demons instead of the Rider."

"Then you better guess right." Piper said giving her husband a comforting peck on the cheek.

The whitelighter closed his eyes and stretched his senses out trying to feel the presence of the Rider in the various places throughout the city. "I think I got it." He told them.

"Can you orb us there?" Phoebe questioned hopefully.

"I can get you close just not inside." He assured them.

"Yeah, demon hangouts are a bad place to orb into." Paige agreed with him. "You're more likely to get an energy ball to the gut than anything else."

"Fine, just do it." Piper said as the sisters all grabbed onto each other and orbed away from the ally.

The group reappeared outside of another bar. They saw that the door had been destroyed by something hot judging by some of the burn marks. There observations were cut short though as a demon came flying through the remains of the door.

"I think we found the place," Paige said dryly as they watched Piper flick her fingers at the demon blowing it up.

"Okay, everyone got their potions and their knives?" Phoebe asked, as she drew a dagger from her back. The others nodded as they checked their weapons. They didn't think that they were going to get rid of the demon with what they had tonight, but they might get lucky and manage a temporary banishment as they needed a bit of the Rider before they could start a truly powerful vanquishing potion. As they entered they saw a problem with their plan to cut off some of its skin since the Rifer didn't seem to have any and it clothes were doubtful to be of any use in the potion.

"Okay, now what?" Paige asked as they watched the fiery figure of the Rider as it tore through the various demons that were trying to fight it.

"Um distract it till one of us can figure it out." The Seer told the others a little bit unsure as to what would happen next.

"Witches," a pair of demons greeted. "Perhaps we can have a temporary truce until we manage to subdue the Rider."

"Do you have a plan to defeat this guy?" Paige questioned curiously.

"I'm afraid the Source merely told me to keep it busy, he never told me what a task such a duty was going to be though." The demon returned to the triad.

"Same with the Elders, they just told us to fix it but forgot to mention how to do that." Piper said looking slightly annoyed at the thought that the Source and the Elders were in agreement on something.

"So until the end of this fight we are then allied in stopping this thing then?" The demon questioned hopefully. "I would rather like to live through this night somehow." It added with a humorless laugh.

"Not like we have a whole lot of choice." Paige said, getting agreeing nods from the other sisters.

"Fine," Piper said, "the demons act as the distraction while we try and get in close and find something from it that can be used in a vanquishing potion." The demons nodded and began flinging energy balls at the Rider, while the sisters did their best to get closer to the Rider. The creature moved about easily dodging or blocking the various attacks with an odd looking ax like weapon that made the attacks bounce off.

"Okay here goes," Phoebe said as she jumped up from where she was hiding and lunged with the knife. The Rider batted the dagger away then back handed the middle sister away from it.

"Okay that does it," Paige said, as she looked around for a weapon to use against their current enemy. "Pool Table!" She Cried out, and the large item disappeared in a sparkle of orbs and reappeared over the Rider. The creature lashed out splintering the heavy table before it could fall on it.

"Alright this is getting out of hand." Piper said as she rose and began flicking her fingers at the Rider and watching as small explosions erupted all over its body. "Phoebe, you better get over here!" The lead witch ordered toward her sister.

The three sisters joined hands and began chanting hoping that the Power of Three. Would be enough to deal with the creature that didn't seem to have any known weaknesses and was barely showing any reaction to any of their other attacks as it was.

"By the Power of Three We Banish You! By the Power of Three We Banish You! By the Power of Three We Banish You!" The sisters threw their potions, and watched as the Rider backed away from the mist that the potions made as if it was trying to decide just how it should react to the magic that was being used against it. The Rider flared its power and clapped its hands together causing more flames and sparks to rise and the mist from the potion flared as it was caught on fire. The flames spread out and hit some of the demons and the creatures were banished.

"This isn't working," Phoebe informed her sisters, "I think we need to switch to an exorcism spell."

"We don't have the time to find one though." Paige reminded them, "we need to do something now before it gets mad about something or other." The group of demons and witches were helpless in stopping the Rider though despite the combined power that they were throwing at it.

"Keep hitting it!" Piper commanded as she kept flicking her hands at the Rider, causing more and more small explosions to happen all over it. Paige was summoning various items from around the room and striking it with them while Phoebe was using a fallen pool cue as a spear and trying to jab it as well.

The Rider moved away or countered the various attacks as best it could, but it never struck back at the sisters while the demons that were helping with cover fire were being blown away from flame attacks. Attacks that seemed to erupt suddenly from fists or the rest of its body and passed over the sisters with only minor burns, but had deadly results when striking the demons destroying them.

"Any new plans yet?" Phoebe questioned her sisters hopefully.

"Not yet," Paige said. Table!" She cried out, as she orbed another table which was followed by several other items that pelted the possessed creature.

"Let's try an exorcism combined with a power of three." Piper suggested to the others hopefully.

The sisters nodded as they grabbed hands and tried another spell. "By the Power of Three Times Three We Release You. By the Power of Three Times Three We Release You. By the Power of Three Times Three We Release You."

The Rider howled angrily, and seemed to flicker for a moment and the group could see two images where before there was only one. The flaming skeleton tried to pull itself upward, as it was being drawn away from the spell. The Rider roared out loudly in defiance of their attempts to separate it from its host though, and broke the hold of the spell slamming itself back into the body that it was currently using. The Rider stumbled a bit and held its body as if in great pain, It whistled and a burning motorcycle rolled up to it. The Rider looked toward the sisters and the remaining demons. Next time, it told them before revving its engine and ramping off a fallen table through a window once that was done it took off.

"Quick call Darryl, maybe we can track it somehow." Phoebe told Paige who nodded her head and began dialing and quickly informed their friend of where the latest attack had happened. The Inspector thanked the sisters and soon they heard police cars and a helicopter roaring toward them.

"And that's our cue to get home." Piper said as they all grabbed onto each other and disappeared as Leo orbed them away. Darryl really didn't need for them to be around when the police started showing up.

* * *

(*Abrasax was supposedly a real demon pg 11 of the Fantasy Almanac)


	8. Charmed III

Nothing owned so nothing made.

* * *

Buffy groaned as she came to waking up hurting all over was not something that she was used to after going through a night that she could barely remember after dealing with Scratch. A headache worse than any hangover she'd had before yes, but not the body on fire ache-y sensation that she was currently feeling. She slipped back to her feet and saw her bike sitting there leaning against a wall and she slowly climbed back onto it. Shaking her head a bit she headed back toward the motel that she had been crashing in. once inside she stripped her clothes off and took a shower as she began putting on street clothes she flipped the television on just in time to see a morning show coming on.

"Wake Up San Francisco," a smiling dark haired man said in a way to loud voice. "Hi, I'm Danny Taylor."

"And I'm Rebecca Katsopolis," a woman sitting next to him said.

"And we're here to help you wake up San Francisco." The pair said in cheerful perky voices that just seemed to grind into the brain of the blonde. No one should be like that in the morning, no matter what the excuse was. It simply wasn't normal or natural for people to be like that early in the morning.

"First up is the local news," Danny said the smile on his face changing to a serious tone. "Police are asking people to be cautious on their trips around town today because of the riots of last night which left several business burned to the ground and several thousands of dollars in property damage to the surrounding area.

"Inspector Darryl Morris, who is heading the investigation stated earlier that people should be extremely cautious in going about the city today as there appear to be people that are intent on burning it down."

Buffy ignored the commentary on the news report, as she saw the various images from last night. It seemed that she had stuck to the supernatural side of San Francisco. And there wasn't anyone that was actually looking for her, or for her skeletal other self. At least not that the police were willing to admit. This gave her some time to try and figure out what her next move was going to try and end this mess before someone or something forced her to take a much more drastic measures in finding her target.

She checked her phone and listened with dread as the voice of Paige came over requesting her to help them in their upcoming fight with an unknown demon. Had the sisters been after her last night? Considering they were the Chosen Ones of the witchy world, that was hardly something that she wanted to go up against, unless she had to. Besides, Chosen Ones were supposed to stick together not try and destroy each other. Well as long as you don't count her on again off again relationship with Faith that is. They had learned their lesson and really were stronger together than they were apart. Grabbing her jacket, she headed out following the directions to get to the manor house that she had on her voice mail. When she got there she let out a whistle of amazement the place was pretty impressive and even her weak magical senses could detect the good magic that infused with the house. Giles would be so proud that he had detected that she thought to herself. Now if only he was here for her to tell.

She nervously knocked on the door and was relieved as she saw Paige answer the door. "Um hey," Buffy said in a weak greeting. "I finally got your message." She said lamely.

"Yeah come on in," Paige said in return stepping aside to let the petite blonde into the house.

Buffy noted the jerky movements of someone in pain as the witch led her into the kitchen where the other two sisters were sitting around a table. She was also surprised that Paige was so unconcerned about inviting someone into her home. Then again there weren't a whole lot of vampires around here. Maybe vamps were low on their totem pole of troubles.

"What happened?" Buffy questioned the sisters worried over the pain filled expressions that the others had.

"Job hazard," Phoebe returned to her.

Buffy felt a flash of guilt as she realized that there was a high chance that the job hazard Phoebe was talking about was her. The fact that she was a job hazard was not an easy pill for her to swallow, and brought back flashbacks of what had happened that night to Xander at the vineyard.

"Hey, don't worry too much about it." Phoebe said, trying to reassure her, as she misinterpreted the guilty look that the Slayer had on her face. "I'm not sure that there's a whole lot you could have done to help us out sweety. Besides, we managed to drive it off with an exorcism spell. While it didn't take it out it definitely hurt it, if the way it screamed and then ran away is anything to go by." The witch said somewhat smugly, while her sisters nodded in agreement.

"How much damage did you manage with that?" Buffy asked with interest, hoping that she didn't sound too excited over the prospect of them having a way to stop the Rider. "I mean, I saw the morning show on some of the damage that it tossed out." She added, just in case. "It even gave a bird's eye view of the city, and can I tell you I was kind of wishing that they hadn't." Buffy hoped that they accepted her reasoning, she really sucked at the whole secret identity thing being found out as the Slayer the day that she went back on duty as the Rider was proof enough on that. Hopefully she could keep them from guessing just what it was that she was before too long. The whole lack of skin also helped her out in that matter as well. It was way better than a costume or mask despite Xander's occasional joking suggestions that she should try wearing them if she ever got serious about trying to be secret identity girl again.

"We hurt it, we think, Paige informed the blonde.

"Really?" Buffy asked with interest at the thought of something besides a high level demon being able to stop her. Her head was already filling with thoughts of how Willow might be able to help her out.

"It could be that we only surprised or scared it to though." The witch admitted, unknowingly destroying the other woman's hopes,

"Yeah, but without a name there's not much more we can do to it though." Piper grumbled at them. "And even then there's no guarantee that an exorcism is what we need to stop this thing. It could just jump hosts or something and we'd have to find it all over again."

"And all this means?" Buffy asked curiously, "you'll have to excuse my lack of understanding these things. With me I usually just keep hitting or hacking away on the demon or whatever until it finally dies."

"I like and approve of that style," Phoebe said in agreement. "To bad it doesn't work too much with the kinds of demons that we fight usually. We need the name of the demon that is the Rider though because it makes the spell all that stronger and would give us a better chance at taking it out next time without the name though there's no way we can take it out that way though."

"So we don't know what its name is, do we know what it's doing in the city at least?" Buffy asked, feeling bad at trying to get information for her current mission from the sisters. Old Scratch hadn't managed to hijack her dreams last night probably because of the exit scissor thing or whatever that the sisters had done to her last time leaving her with only half an idea as to what she was doing. She knew that she was looking for someone but she didn't know who or what exactly that she was looking for.

"It's called the Rider, and it's a possessed human who acts as a messenger and enforcer for another demon, it's here to collect something for this other demon." Piper explained to them.

The group was interrupted as a weary Leo orbed into the room. Buffy acted before the others could say anything and had one of her stakes held up against the back of the man." Sparkles here a friend of yours?" She questioned the sisters curiously, while she eyed the figure with interest from behind. He kind of reminded her of Riley from this angle just not as broad or stiff.

"No this is Leo, my husband and our Whitelighter." Piper explained doing her best not to freeze or blow up the girl holding her husband with a very sharp weapon at his back. She was only trying to keep all of them safe.

"Oh, uh, oops." Buffy said as she released the man just as quickly as she had grabbed him. "Ah, sorry about that," she told the man with a weak smile. "So can anyone tell me what a Whitelighter is exactly anyways? Are they like some special kind of magical highlighter or something that comes in a nice hunky package?"

"Yes, he is pretty cute and hunky," Piper agreed narrowing her eyes toward the blonde wondering if it was too late to reconsider freezing or blowing her up.

"Anyways," Phoebe said trying to break the tensions between her sister and the demon hunter. "Leo's job as a Whitelighter is to basically be a type of Guardian Angel for witches that heal injuries and act as informants and messengers occasionally with the Elders."

"Hunky Guardian Angels?" Buffy said in slight disbelief as she looked Leo over while shaking her head. "They give you guys hunky guardian Angels, that also act as messengers?" She threw a glare toward Phoebe. "He so makes up for the whole power difference thing." The Slayer declared to the witch. "The only messenger I ever got was a demon named Whistler who had no fashion sense, and from what I've heard about LA it was mainly because it dealt with Angel. There really is no such thing as fair is there?" She seemed to ask the air. "I mean you get the whole Touched by an Angel experience."

"Wow, you're Buffy Summers?" Leo asked as he looked the small blonde over in amazement with a big grin spread across his face.

Buffy snorted at the dopey grin as he reminded her somewhat of Andrew and Xander at the moment.

Piper sighed as she watched her husband. "You'll have to forgive my husband, he sometimes get a bit caught up in the stories that are told about people and forgets sometimes that they're regular people and don't require for him to worship them."

"Whatever," Buffy returned to the woman with a smile. "I wouldn't mind knowing where can I get me one, preferably one that will give me a massage." She added with a grin.

"Well as we understand it, they're protectors for witches." Paige apologized.

"Uh huh," Buffy said dubiously," and the reason why none of the witches I knew ever had one of these guys to back them up? I mean I've worked with and fought witches several times, and never come across any type of holy type creatures, unless you count the time I was fighting a God, and since she was like a hellgod I'm not sure that she would count as holy." Buffy said pausing as she thought this one through. "It might make them unholy though."

The sisters looked startled at this before turning to the Whitelighter. "Leo?" Piper asked with interest.

Leo looked a bit sheepish at this. "Whitelighters can't do anything on a hellmouth, our abilities are cancelled out in hell dimensions and what not making our abilities useless. The hellmouth being a doorway to hell makes it so we're still pretty useless in those areas. There were probably those that were watching them and they simply didn't know about it since they couldn't offer as much help as they might have liked to. Since your type of champion is usually on the front line fighting in hell dimensions Whitelighters rarely ever help Slayers because they usually only get in the way."

"So there's too much badness where we work? Gotchya." Buffy returned to him.

"Something like that." Leo returned to her. "It's why the ones in charge of your kind of champions use beings like the Watchers Council and the Balance Demons to direct their champions. Of course ones like them are a bit different since they're duty bound to keeping the balance between good and evil as opposed to the Elders who are actually interested in winning the war."

"So the Powers that Be aren't really bastards, they're just controlled by all sorts of red tape and crazy rules." Buffy asked dubiously.

"Yes," Leo agreed, "they can't help one side or the other too much, and because of the interference of the one known as Jasmine they couldn't interfere with your latest fight because the balance was already to uneven."

Buffy nodded her head in understanding, having heard about the Jasmine chick while she had been in LA. Some said she was beauty incarnate while others said that she had been like a walking corpse or zombie.

"As fun as this is, we need to stop whatever it is that happened last night from happening again tonight." Piper told the others, breaking the conversation between Slayer and Whitelighter. "Unfortunately, vanquishing and exorcising it are both out of the question for the moment, since we don't have a name or any parts of it to use. Means we can't summon or contain it either."

"I guess that means that we're going to have to actually go and find this thing then." Paige said in annoyance. "Ugh, I hate having to track strange demons down, particularly ones like this one."

"Alright then, how should we start looking then? Since this one is not interested in us we're actually going to have to try something else than our usual methods." Phoebe reminded her sisters.

"Yes, and the Elders still can't sense the Rider while it is in its human form either" Leo reminded all of them.

"You make it sound like you don't usually go out searching for demons." Buffy said with an amused smile as she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets.

"Uh that's because we don't usually do all that much searching for demons." Phoebe admitted feeling somewhat embarrassed at this. "We usually just have to wait until the bad guys come to us, or use a tracking spell to locate them in some way."

"Any other methods?" Buffy questioned curiously, wondering what other methods that the witches might use in tracking their big bads.

"Leo helps by having his contacts with the Elders tell us where to go." Paige added in.

Buffy shook her head in disbelief it seemed that there were other ways that she and the sisters were different. They didn't go looking for demons all the time, but waited for them to come at them. Without magic to help them, the sisters seemed somewhat lost on how to find their target. Buffy looked around at the group for a moment before springing herself into action. "Fine, grab your jackets and let's go. We need to hurt some demons, and see if we can't find out something from the local demon population about our demon and just what its after."

The sisters nodded their heads in agreement as they grabbed their things and followed the Slayer outside. "Alright, now comes the fun part where we get to go and find demons in their various little drinking holes and then make with the beat-age of whatever information we need to out of the people that either run the bar or the bartender. It can be lots of fun, or it could be boring. It kin of depends on how they act towards us, and who scares them the most and whether or not you have lots of money to throw around for bribes."

The sisters nodded their understanding as they got into their cars. Leo was going to stay behind and continue working on the Elders to see if they could help them with either a name or place. The group drove to the bar that the sisters had fought the Rider at last night and saw that a pair of demons were acting as guards to the main doors. With the slayer leading them they walked right up to the two.

"We're closed," one of the demons said while glaring at the group. "Besides, it's not like we serve their kind anyways." He added to the blonde, while nodding towards the group of witches.

"Racist much?" The blonde questioned with a smirk at the pair. "Now, you can either let us in, or I can paint the floor with your remains." She cheerfully explained to the pair. "Between the two of your heads I should be able to make a paintbrush if I really need to."

The demons scowled at this and moved forward to confront the small figure. The slayer responded by backhanding the pair and then jumping into the air and sending a small, but powerful kick into the chest of each of them sending them flying.

Piper flicked her hands at the fight and the two demons froze in midflight.

Buffy chuckled as she landed and saw that the demons that were frozen in time. "Oh man, where have you been all these years? Do you have any idea how convenient being able to do that would have been? It would have so saved on my clothes because I wouldn't have to worry about vamp ash or demon slime getting into everything." She prattled, as she walked up to one of the demons and stabbed it with a dagger.

The sisters nodded somewhat surprised that that the blonde was still moving. "That shouldn't be possible." Paige said as she watched the blonde. "From what Leo's told us Slayers are supposed to be empowered or something like that, only witches and Upper Level demons are immune to the freezing power."

Buffy looked up at the sisters looking a bit nervous and surprised at hearing this bit of information. "Something that I guess that I'll need to check on later." She informed the sisters. "You must have made playing freeze tag a whole new game when you were growing up though." She added with a grin directed at the elder witch.

"That would actually have been interesting." Phoebe said, "only it doesn't work on us, and would have broken one of the main rules."

"Shame, it would make things cool. So can I throw this guy while he's like that?" She questioned while nodding toward the remaining demon.

"Better not, you never know what kind of reaction will happen when you try and move him while he's frozen." Piper informed her. "It's actually easier to move things around them than it is to move them."

"Shame," Buffy said with a frown before walking behind the demon and nodding toward the witch.

Piper flicked her hands at the demon and it resumed its falling only this time it slammed into the waiting fist of the slayer.

"Hi, remember me?" The perky blonde asked as she grabbed him by the back of his collar.

In the bar, various demons and warlocks were walking around the bar trying to repair the damage that the elder demon had caused last night when he had been searching and destroying the place. There were charred marks all over the place where attacks had missed and struck the walls and floor. The inspection was halted though when one of the guards came flying through the doors and exploded a moment later.

"You need to find better help," the Slayer said conversationally as she casually waltzed into the remains of the bar and headed for the most expensively dressed demon in the room. "The guys you had doing it were a bit on the slow side, and they were also heavy on the rude side. I mean all I came here for was some information and then I'm gone. There was no reason to be rude about things."

The demon glared at the four women that had invaded his territory. "What do you want?" He growled in anger, he could smell the witch on the group from here.

"World peace would be nice but I'd settle for having the Rider dealt with. It makes the world of magic a bit more noticeable when its out and about." The blonde explained to them.

"Yeah, world peace would be nice," Paige agreed with her friend.

"See, we need to know where the one that the Rider is after is at, and hopefully use them as bait or something." Phoebe explained to the demon with a smile.

The demon nodded at the group. "Personally I would love to help you in dealing with the Rider, it is not exactly good for business as you can see." It said waving its arms around the partially burned out bar." It will take anywhere from weeks, maybe even months to repair all the damage done here." It said in annoyance.

"But?" Piper questioned, hearing the word in the tone of his voice.

"The Source has given protection to the prey of the Rider." The demon angrily explained to them. "No one is allowed to attack or offer the fool up for what he's done to the city."

"So in other words, what you're saying is that if we really want the name then we're going to have to beat it out of you then?" Buffy asked sweetly making sure that she understood just what it was that the demon was telling them. "I just want to make sure that I understand the rules of the game."

The demon snorted at the blonde. "Do you really think that a bunch of witches are going to be enough to stop us? Even with the Charmed Ones here to back you up there's no way that you're going to win this fight." The demon snapped its fingers and the various demons and warlocks created energy balls or drew Athame blades out.

"Your choice on how messy this gets." Paige said from where she was standing while eyeing the creatures that surrounded them.

"Yeah, I mean if you think that you can take the beating then we're all for it." Phoebe said agreeably, as she eyed the various demons that were surrounding them.

"Kill them," the lead demon ordered. The various demons reacted to the command as the fired energy balls and blades at the four from all directions.

Buffy twirled out of the way at the attacks aimed at her snatching a pair of knives out of the air she found herself between two demons and slammed the blades to either side of her and drew the blades out killing the demons. She flipped the dagger in hands and threw them catching two more demons in the chest. She then leaped at another demon, bringing her foot into its jaw sending it flying into a table.

The sisters hadn't stood idly by while the slayer fought either Piper had ducked beneath several incoming attacks and with several flicks of her hands the various demons were suffering from explosions happening all over their bodies that kept them at bay.

Paige orbed herself out of the way of the attacks and reappeared near the bar. "Energy ball," she cried out, and a pair of energy balls orbed over her hands and were redirected toward another pair of demons causing them to be destroyed

Phoebe leaped into the air and rose high above the various attacks as the hit the area around where she had been and even a few were hit in the crossfire and then landed next to one and performed several shots to the stomach and ribs. While the demon was gasping in pain she grasped the arm and twisted the demon around so that the demon was facing an incoming energy ball.

The various demons around the room were unfazed at the losses that they were taking and began forcing the women away from each other. Buffy scowled as she cartwheeled out of the way of one attack and managed to land near an upturned table. While fighting alone was not something that bothered her, it seemed to hamper the sisters somewhat. Phoebe joined her a few moments later. Piper had fallen back to hiding behind the door frame and Paige had retreated to being behind the bar. "Well this one could have gone better," the blonde joked.

"Tell me about it," the witch muttered back, squeaking a bit as an energy ball tore through a part of the table near her shoulder. Taking a chance the witch peeked around the table and saw where her sisters were hiding on the other side of the room. She jerked her head back though as several energy balls headed toward her face. "We really need to find a way to get back into the fight."

"I just might be able to do something about that actually." The blonde demon hunter said with a superior grin. She held her hand up in front of her and seemed to be focusing a moment later she had a ball of flame in either hand. "A new trick that I learned that I can do." She explained to the shocked witch. "Let's just hope that I can hit them with these babies now though."

Phoebe nodded her head in understanding, new powers and abilities were rather common thing to happen to witches and demons. She was also unsure what to say over the markings that had appeared over the blonde's face as she connected more deeply with her demonic side. "So now you have super strength, foresight, and fire balls? Life is so not fair at times." The witch joked at the slayer.

"You still got the hottie messenger though." The slayer reminded the witch.

"A hottie that my sister happened to marry." Phoebe grumbled back the other woman. "Which means I can't even really look without getting the evil eye from my sister."

"Yeah, kind of forgot about that one." The blonde admitted with a grin. "On three?" Buffy suggested, an agreeing nod had her staring the countdown "One, two three." The two rose from their hiding places and Buffy threw her attacks at the demons concentrating on pinning them down. The demons were so shocked to see the attacks that they forgot to duck and the fireballs consumed them. The other demons spun around to face these new menaces and this gave Piper and Paige the chance that they needed to finish off the remaining demons that had tried to destroy them leaving the leader as the only survivor of their fight.

Buffy marched up to the surprised demon who had been so sure of victory that it hadn't even bothered getting up from the table. The blonde grabbed the table on either side and slammed it into the demon sending it flying across the room. She then grabbed the demon by the scruff of its collar as it tried to climb to its feet and slammed its face back into the ground. "Okay, see doing that gives me a headache and getting shot at makes me cranky, so how about you go along and make with the spillage before I get even crankier?" The slayer demanded of her prisoner. "Who or what is the Rider after now?"

The demon struggled against the hold of the blonde for a moment before nodding its head in agreement. "Alright," the demon gasped, "word is, is that the Rider is after someone called Abraxes."

"Uh huh, and where do we find Abra-skis?" The young woman pressed her captive.

"In some of the hidden levels of the underworld." The demon returned not bothering to correct the person that had him prisoner on her pronunciation. Anyone that could destroy that many demons with their bare hands could talk just about any way that they wanted to as far as he was concerned.

"And why is the Rider after this guy anyways?" Paige questioned the Slayer's captive.

"Word is that he planning on trading some stolen souls for power through some sort of ritual, and then when he's gone and juiced himself up he's going to challenge his old man for control of the throne in their little piece of hell."

"And what does the Source get from helping the bratty heir to the throne?" Piper asked suspiciously. "Unless you expect us to believe that he's doing it to be nice. Why would he help another demon challenge Mephistopheles all so that it could pick a fight with its old man?"

"Simple, Mephistopheles is limited in what he can do to this dimension. It is only through those he empowers like the Riders does he have any type of influence. The Source is using the kid to test the power and reach of Mephistopheles."

"Yeah, well his little power game is putting too much attention on the rest of us in the supernatural community." Piper complained angrily. "The damage that it's been doing all over has got a lot of people looking into us in ways that they shouldn't be. If the Rider continues rolling and destroying things because people think that they can outdo him then there's going to be problems."

"Now tell us the location of the demon that the Source, is protecting so we can put it out of all of our misery. Phoebe commanded as she glared down at the demon.

"That's all I know, the Source is the only one that knows all the information about where the kid is hiding out." The demon fearfully assured the group that held him down.

The blonde nodded her head as she slammed her fist down into the ground right next to the head of the demon, her fist easily tore through the wooden floor. The Slayer pulled her fist back out of the wood and watched disinterestedly as blood dripped down from her hand onto the face of the demon. "That floor is your head if I find out that you held anything back from us." She informed him coldly. "Trust me, I got no problems with dealing with little weasel informants like you." She commented to him. "Willy didn't like it when I decided to make things rough for him either."

The demons shivered in fear as he nodded his head in understanding.

"Good," Buffy said with a grin as she released her hold on the demon and climbed back to her feet.

"Alright, let's go then." Paige said the sisters eyed the Slayer a bit nervously as her methods of questioning were much more brutal than their usual methods. The group returned to the manor and the sisters began working on what they could. Piper set about making lunch for the group while Paige Phoebe and Buffy set about trying to figure out what they could.

"So what do we know about this particular demon anyways?" Paige questioned curiously.

"Nothing," Phoebe returned, "and I bet it's useless to try and summon him since it seems he's a high level demon and he's under the personal protection of the Source. There's also nothing at all about him in the Book either."

"Book?" Buffy questioned, surprised to see that the sisters seemed to only have one book which was different from the pile of research books that she was used to.

"Yeah the book of Shadows, it's the most comprehensive book on demons and magic." Phoebe explained, as she turned the pages.

"That one book has all that?" Buffy asked in surprised impressed that one book held all of that information. "I usually have to go through around 100 books to get the information I need, and they're usually in about two dozen different languages most of which are either dead or demonic. You guys though have all of the information in one book and to top it all off its actually all in English? That is so not fair."

Buffy leaned over the shoulder of Phoebe as she paged through the book. There was a picture of the first Slayer inside with a list of known abilities. The drawing was remarkable, and if they weren't so busy Buffy would have read more of it. The witch paged on through though, and a face from the Slayer's past appeared.

Phoebe shuddered a bit as she saw the wrinkly face and bat-like appearance of the figure. "Now that's a face I'd never want to seat night," she said.

Buffy smiled at the witch. "Good thing you won't have to then. The Master has been dead for the last 6 and half years."

"You killed that thing?" Phoebe said impressed.

"Yeah did it by myself for the most part, as long as you don't count the CPR that Xander had to perform to get me back into the game." Buffy said proud of her friend.

"And I thought we had killed some ugly demons," the witch commented shivering slightly as she looked at the image of the ancient vampire lord.

Buffy chuckled a bit and raised her eyebrow as she saw another familiar face. "The Judge was an interesting one to fight to," she said conversationally. "He was going on about how no weapon forged can harm him yadda, yadda, yadda. I told him things had changed and then used a rocket launcher on him that tore him apart."

"You used a rocket launcher on a demon?" Paige questioned, somewhat surprised.

"Not just a demon, but an invincible demon," the slayer smugly informed the witches. "While most small arm weapons don't do much to demons, if you add in an explosive element or something they usually do the trick." The slayer explained to the witches that nodded their heads in acceptance not really wanting to know how the young woman had gotten her hands on a rocket launcher or how she had gotten the experience to know explosives worked.

Buffy spent a while longer helping the sisters with the bits and pieces of research before promising to check back in with them later. Once the sisters were sure that the slayer was gone they returned to the page about the Slayer in the Book of Shadows.

"Well?" Piper questioned the others with interest.

"All the powers that we were told about are right here." Phoebe confirmed, as she examined the page. "The only thing that there's nothing on is the energy balls which may be because there has never been a slayer known to have reached her age. Our family has known a total of three different Slayers over the years. Two of them died in a fight alongside of our ancestors, while another one moved on to another town but was never heard from again."

"So, is she the Slayer?" Paige questioned the others.

"Either that, or she's a very good actor that wants the same things that we want." Phoebe explained still unsure which side of the war this new person was on. The brutal method that the blonde had used while questioning the demons had been disturbing for all of the sisters her deadly combat style was even more worrisome though as it was possible that she might be able to take them down as well.

"So we need to be careful with her then." Piper told the others who nodded their heads in agreement. "I also have an idea on something that could help us. Leo!" She cried out.

A few moments later, the blonde whitelighter orbed into the room. "Did you learn something new?" He questioned the sisters eagerly.

"We're not sure, but we need to know if that really is Buffy Summers though." Piper explained to her husband. "She's been showing more than just the abilities of a slayer, and we need to know if she's really the slayer or something different and is just using her name to try and trick us for some reason or other."

Leo nodded his head in agreement. "I'll ask around and find someone that can give me an image of her." He promised to the sisters before he orbed away.

"This just keeps getting more and more confusing some days." Paige grumbled, as she orbed the Book of Shadows back to the attic where it belonged.

"Come on, we got more work to do before sunset." Phoebe told her sisters who merely groaned in disbelief.


	9. Charmed IV

Don't own BTVS, Charmed, or Full House characters that I'm playing with.

* * *

Buffy had been wandering around San Francisco for the day but had yet to find anything. She was driving down a hill when the sudden appearance of a figure surprised her and caused her to swerve and lose control of her bike she was about to slam into the figure who held their hand out as if to catch the bike. Buffy's eyes widened in shock as the outstretched arm caught the bike and didn't send him flying. Her thoughts were torn though as she felt her body shoot over the handlebars and the head of the figure. She twisted her body around so that she landed on outstretched hands and feet skidding a couple of feet before stopping. The blonde bit back a scream as she shook her hands that had been ripped up by the road. "Couldn't you have chosen a different way to get my attention?" She questioned, as the demon set her bike down and then turned around to face her.

"You should really put your gloves on before getting on your bike." Mephistopheles admonished her, while looking at her damaged hands without a look of regret.

"I should be okay, thanks for asking." Buffy bit back at him sarcastically while still glaring at the demon lord angrily. "What is it that you want now anyways Scratch? I've been doing my best to find your boy after having the exorcism done to me. Really not something that I would want to happen again either. Who knew those things would actually hurt so much." She said with a wince at the memory.

"True you are looking however, to find your prey you need to hunt them in their habitat." The demon coolly returned to the blonde.

"I'm trying to find him," Buffy defended, "it's just not that easy. When they decide to hide they make it a bit harder with the finding."

Mephistopheles shook his head in disappointment at her. "You still think like a Slayer my dear girl, you're not just a Slayer anymore though. You are now my Rider." He reminded her.

"Kind of hard to forget that little piece of information when I'm throwing fireballs, and lashing out at people that are guilty." Buffy returned to him angrily. "Tell me Scratch, is there some other piece of rather obvious information that you'd like to wow me with right now?"

"Then act like a Rider!" Mephistopheles demanded of the girl before him. "You don't have to threaten or scare your enemies. The rules here are very simple. They tell you what you want to know or they die. As the Slayer you have always hidden in the shadows because you have tried to balance between the two worlds. A Rider does not straddle the fence as you have done sometimes, the Rider is a force of nature that doesn't back down to anyone or anything. It finds a problem deals with it and moves on, in your human form you are not nearly as ruthless as the Rider."

"And yet I take that as a compliment," Buffy shot back at him.

"That may be Rider, but the time for games has long since passed. Stop drawing this battle out as you have and finish it before I become annoyed." Mephistopheles informed her with a glare.

"And how do you suggest that I deal with it? Your demon prince is still hiding." Buffy challenged him.

The Demon Lord smirked back at her as he reached out and grabbed her shoulder in his vice like grip. The Slayer tried to pull away, but was helpless to stop him and then flames surrounded the pair and they were transported to what looked like some sort of cave. "Welcome to the Underworld," he declared as he finally released his hold on the blonde.

"Needs a decorator," Buffy mumbled as she rubbed her shoulder. "So this is San Fran's Demon Town then?" She asked as she looked around unimpressed with what she was seeing. "And here I thought that the China Town side of this place was the thing to see." She said mockingly. "Course if this place is typical of demon decoration it makes me glad that there are those of us to stop demons from taking over the world. Can you imagine what it would do for decorators if this became the norm?"

Mephistopheles scowled at the belligerent girl. "Find the Source, and bring me souls that he helped to steal from me." He ordered his servant. "You'll need this though." He said in afterthought, as he held up his hand and in a swirl of hellfire the scythe appeared as he offered the blonde her weapon.

Buffy took the weapon and gave a few practice swings making sure it was really her weapon and not some illusion or other. "And how do you recommend that I go about finding them? I'm not exactly all flamey like right now." She reminded him while gesturing towards herself. "Not that I'm complaining, I kind of like having skin and hair."

"In a hell dimension some things are easier than you might have thought." He informed her cryptically with a knowing smirk. "Now be the Rider," Mephistopheles ordered before he disappeared into a pillar of flame.

The blonde nodded as she watched the fires that marked the leaving of the creature that held her soul in its hand. She was so preoccupied that she nearly missed the starting of the immense pain that was the start of her transformation. The buildup was too much though and she grunted as she began to feel her body begin to be consumed once more by mystical hellfire. A few moments later the Slayer was gone and the Slayer Rider was in her place.

The Slayer Rider ignored those thoughts as it turned its attention toward the mission that it had been given. Everything here had been tainted in the evil of demons, it could feel the evil and darkness in the very walls as it strode by. It had chosen the direction it had by focusing on the largest and darkest feeling of evil. Demons and Warlocks moved into view shimmering or appearing in other methods as they felt a new and powerful dark presence that was unlike any that any of them knew. Upon seeing the Rider, recognition flared through them as they drew weapons or summoned energy balls. Slayer Rider bared its own blade at the demons and the two sides stood there a moment as they each tried to figure out what was going to happen next.

Slayer Rider made the first move as it raised its scythe in one hand and pointed it at the assembled demons. "Guilty," it declared, and swung its weapon upward as flames shot out of the weapon striking at the assembled demons.

Several of the demons were caught in the hellfire flames a few managed to protect themselves for a few moments but the flames would travel around them and strike them from the back. It wasn't until a large group of demons and warlocks combined their powers and each of them cast a defensive spell that they were able to survive the onslaught and push the flames back towards their attacker. The Slayer Rider was unfazed as its own attack was returned towards it, shrugging the attack off as it moved forward its fiery blade burning or slicing through the flesh of opponents only stopping when it clanged against the steel of a blade.

A demon rushed into the throne room and knelt before the Source. "My Lord, the Rider is on its way, soon it shall be here unless you send forces to stop it." The demon warned its master.

"Do you think that I have reason to fear some human possessed worm like the Rider?" The Source snarled out angrily. "I know more about the Rider than you could ever hope to know fool. Slow it down as best as you can, but I will not send others to die needlessly. I must prepare for what is to come."

"As you say," the demon replied, bowing before scurrying away from the irate Source.

The Source made several hand gestures and an image of Abraxes appeared before him. "My Lord, the demon greeted.

"Young one," the cloaked figure of the Source returned, "the time for you to prove your worth is now. The Rider comes ready for battle, destroying those that have pledged themselves to me. I need you to come and help me to put this demon down and since you need to prove that you can handle a upper level threat before you challenge your father, this is just the sort of thing that you have been needing."

"Very well," Abraxes said, "I shall honor your request and help you in your time of need. I will need a few minutes to use the souls and charge myself though, try and keep the Rider busy as long as possible."

"I shall, try, but the Rider is not known for being reasonable so hurry yourself." Commanded the Source.

The demon prince nodded curtly before cutting the communication with the demon lord. The Source was distracted as the nearby wall was blasted apart with a giant fireball. When the flames finally died down, the Source could see the figure of the Rider on the other side of the hole that it had created. In one hand it held the fiery weapon of the scythe, while in the other it held a demon high over its head so that it feet were uselessly dangling in the air as it weakly tried to pry the steel grip from holding it. The Rider turned to look at the demon lord. "Abraxes," it hissed out as it focused on the Source.

"Is not here, Zarathos." The lord of the underworld returned to the intruder. The demon lord watched as the Rider looked at him for a moment.

"Source," it hissed out in recognition, the flames surrounding it leather and bone body flaring even brighter for a moment. The demon in its hand screamed in pain before going silent, as its body was consumed by the hellfire.

"I take it you remember me then? The demon lord questioned arrogantly, as it rose to its feet to face off with the messenger. "It has been a long time since I last saw you Zarathos, you were such a mighty warrior back then of course. Then Mephistoles decided that you were becoming a problem and bound you, sending your body to the ends of the earth while binding your spirit and power making you his own servant." The Source watched the figure as its flames highlighted its body as it was reminded of its defeat from long ago. "There is something different about you though, there is more power in you than usual. Where does this new power that you have come from Zarathos? What little secrets are you hiding I wonder?" The Source mused aloud, as it watched the creature before it.

The Rider ignored the questions as it leveled its weapon at its newest opponent. "Abraxes," it repeated, as it walked through the hole that it had made.

"He is on his way, until then I think that I should teach you some manners on the proper way to treat someone else's home." The Source shot off as he fired dark raw demon magic at the Rider.

The Rider was surprised by the attack and thrown back through the hole it had made, and was embedded into the far wall. The Source watched as the creature pulled itself out of the indention that its body had formed. "That weapon your host uses has something to do with your new power doesn't it Zarathos?" The Source questioned the figure as he gathered another ball of raw energy into its hands. "What is it about this host and their weapon that gives you so much power though?" The Source fired another blast of demonic energy at the Rider.

The Rider was ready for the attack this time around though and brought its blade up, the energies parted as they struck the weapon leaving the Rider unscathed.

"Impressive, most impressive. I recognize that weapon now though Zarathos. That weapon is one of the elder weapons. It is also the weapon of the bane to the vampires, it is the Slayer Scythe is it not? I had thought that the weapon was under the protection of the last of the Guardians. Which makes your host either the Slayer, or the last of the Guardians. There had been rumors that the Slayer line had changed and that the warriors that guarded the Hellmouth in Sunnydale had done something. It looks like they cut some sort of deal with Mephistopheles. I wonder how much it cost you to make that deal mortal?"

The Rider snarled in defiance of the robed figure, and began swinging the weapon in its hands. Hellfire trailed behind it, as it attempted to strike its opponent. Not about to let information on what it was to slip from its enemy. The Source snarled back and covered itself in its magic as it prepared to meet the Rider. The two clashed in a swirl of orange hellfire and black/purple demon magic as they tried to subdue each other.

"You have not fully taken the body as your own have you Zarathos, there was a time that I would never have been a challenge for you." The Source mocked at the Rider. "Becoming a spirit has weakened you to levels that even I never thought possible."

"Still look better than you," The Rider grunted out before backhanding the Source, "and that's saying something." The Rider then swiped down with its blade, the Source let out a scream as the blade finally tore through its defenses and ripped through the robe it wore. The Rider let out a cruel and cold laugh that echoed through the cavern. "Die," it said as it raised its blade again and slashed downwards.

The weapon clanged against the handle of Abraxes whip. "I still have use for this one Rider, how about you try me on first?" The demon prince questioned the other demon.

The pair of combatants turned to look at whom had intruded into their battle. "Abraxes," the Rider hissed, ignoring the Source now that its true prey had finally shown itself.

"Rider," the demon Prince returned coolly, as it recoiled its whip with a flick of its wrist. "I suppose that I should feel honored that Mephistopheles decided to send his most powerful agent after me."

"The souls," the Rider said.

"I cannot do that Rider, I need their power." Abraxes returned to the demonic messenger. "I need the power that these souls can give me. I can either bribe those that I need to, or become the weapon that destroys my father."

"Die," the Slayer Rider returned as it raised its weapon.

"Very well Rider, then we shall fight." Abraxes flicked his wrist again, and the whip extended out again and caught on fire. "If you really want to challenge me over the power of these souls then we shall." He flicked the whip and it slammed into the Rider and sent it stumbling back. The whip hissed out again and wrapped around the scythe and with a jerk of its hands the weapon went sailing away. The Rider roared and charged forward prepared to use its fists to continue the fight. Abraxes chuckled as he dodged several blows as one fist went over his head he looped the flaming whip around the arm and twisted the arm behind the back of the Rider.

While the two were fighting the Source pulled itself up into its throne and watched the pair of demonic powerhouses duel it out for possession of the stolen souls. Abraxes began delivering blows to the rib area on the Rider. The Slayer Rider snarled in anger and pain, reared its head back slamming the back of its skull into the face of the other demon, whom released its hold on its opponent and stumbled back a few steps. The Slayer Rider spun on its heel, driving its elbow into the cheek of its enemy.

Abraxes stumbled back and held its hand to its face to slow the dark blood that was oozing out of its cheek. "Not bad," he complimented, as he withdrew his hand and saw the inhuman colored blood. It raised its other hand which had the whip and wrapped the end around its wrist before it began swinging the heavy butt around and then releasing it at the Rider.

Slayer Rider was struck in the shoulder and sent spinning away while Abraxes jerked on the long cord of the whip and had the heavy end back in his hand releasing the middle he then flicked the whip outward and wrapped the weapon around the Rider again and began spinning the Rider was lifted up into the air and another flick of the wrist and was sent flying into the wall.

The two powerhouses were panting as they surveyed each other from across the throne room. The Slayer Rider held its hand up, and balls of fire appeared in its hands and it began flinging them at the other demon as it ran around the room. Abraxes nodded and held his own hands out and a second fire whip appeared in his hand. The two whips then began to sing as they moved all around him deflecting the various fireballs that were being launched at it.

It became apparent that the Slayer Rider had been using the attack as a distraction though, as it slid like a baseball player stealing a base as it came close to its scythe picking it up with one hand while flinging its hellfire with the other. Swinging the blade around, it let loose with another more intense blast of hellfire.

Abraxes responded by twirling it whips and creating a hellfire cyclone to absorb the attack. Slayer Rider seeing the defense began spinning the scythe and aimed its own fire cyclone at the demon. The attacks met and pushed against each other for a moment as they tried to overpower each other. A few moments later though, the two attacks imploded on each other, throwing the combatants away from each other due to the force of the explosion.

The fighters rose again, both unsteady as they glared at each other their weapons held loosely in their hands ready to attack or defend if they needed to. They moved forward again, Abraxes whip slicing through the air, cracking or making near misses. "Come Rider, you've given yourself a good fight, but the fact is that you can't do much more than you've already done. If you surrender and kneel before me I might be merciful." The demon offered in a condensing manner.

Slayer Rider responded to the offer by snarling at the demon prince.

"So be it," he began swing the whip over his head and then slung the end toward the Rider, intending to snare it up again and send it flying across the room. The Slayer Rider surprised Abraxes though, as its hand flashed upward faster than the whip was moving and snagged the flaming cord out of thin air.

The young demon stared in shock at its captured weapon, before Slayer Rider gave a powerful heave and the demon found itself rushing toward the fiery skeleton. Slayer Rider reared back with its fist, and as Abraxes came close Slayer Rider launched its fist, nailing Abraxes in the face sending the demon flying back across the room. Rushing forward Slayer Rider fired off a pair of hellfire balls and then launched itself at Abraxes. The stunned demon was being slowly torn apart. as it had lost the advantage that its weapon gave it in range and was fighting a much more skilled opponent.

The Source shook its head in disgust at the young demon and rose to deal with the problem when a tapping sound caused it to look to the side and saw Mephistopheles leaning against his cane watching the fight and the demon lord. "Scratch," the Source greeted the elder demon.

"Source," Mephistopheles returned, as he watched the fight between the other two.

"What are you doing here?" The cloaked Demon Lord demanded of the other demon sovereign.

"I have come to see how my current Rider is doing. I have quite a bit more power down here than in the mortal realm, so I can watch this without causing any real problems, just as my Rider can take on its demonic form without waiting for sunset." Mephistopheles casually explained to the other demon.

The Source nodded in understand as it grasped the unspoken message it was being told. This also meant that Mephistopheles could interfere if the Source attempted to aide Abraxes. Even at a lower power, a battle capable Mephistopheles was not someone that you wanted to anger. Besides, with the large cut that it had received there was no way that it could stand up to the both of them. For now it would seem that it was going to be forced to stand down. The smug look upon Mephistopheles meant that he knew it as well.

The pair turned back to watching the fight, the Rider reared its arm back and brought its weapon down twice causing a crisscross pattern spinning with the scythe in hand it turned to face the two demon lords while driving the stake end of the weapon into the chest of Abraxes. They watched as the flames were sucked out of the demon and reformed into a contract. The Slayer Rider yanked its weapon out not even seeming to notice as the young demon fell to the ground as it tossed the contract to the watching Scratch.

"Good job, I shall see you both later I want to get this contract out of here though." Scratch said as he pocketed the contract. "For the moment you shall have some time off until I have need of you once again my Rider. I am sure that there are still plenty of other missions for you to do for me." The dealmaker laughed at the two raging figures before it disappeared in a pillar of hellfire.

The Source regarded the figure that remained in its throne room. "A part of me thinks that I should leave you alone allow you to leave my realm peacefully, Being under the likes of old Scratch is not something any being would enjoy. However, you destroyed my ally Zarathos. Now that Scratch is gone, I think that I'll make you pay for that crime against me and my realm."

The Rider brandished its weapon for a moment before releasing a large blast of hellfire toward the Source. The Source yelled out as he teleported away, as some of the flames hurt him. Slayer Rider knelt down and retrieved the fallen whip of Abraxes and then created its own pillar of flame and disappeared from the underworld.

Slayer Rider reappeared on the Golden Bridge in its pillar of flame. A large semi-truck was bearing down on it, but the Rider raised its hands as if to catch the incoming several tons of metal and the truck slammed into it. The Rider was pushed several feet back, but the damage to the truck was immense as the front looked like it had been caved in or the driver had tried to drive through a building.

As people began fleeing from the damaged area while screaming demons began shimmering onto the bridge, ready to take up the fight leading them was the wounded Source. "We are not done yet Rider," the demon lord said coldly.

The two sides glared at each other as they prepared for battle against each other. The Rider let out a long whistle and a few moments later its transformed bike appeared through a fireball. The Slayer Rider mounted up, and displayed it weapon so that all of the demons could see it. With its engine revving it was now ready for the upcoming fight.

* * *

Phoebe was busy placing the last of their supplies up when she got the vision. The Golden Bridge on fire with demons, the Source and the Rider all over the place blasting at each other. "Guys we have to go now." She told her sisters. "There's about to be a demon war on the Golden Bridge unless we can manage to stop it."

"Right," Paige said as she grabbed her phone while Piper grabbed her potion bag and keys. "I'll call Darryl you two get us there." The sisters nodded as they headed towards the attic. A call and a promise from Darryl to send his taskforce out after the war happened.

"Any ideas what I should tell people when they see everything going on out there?" The man questioned his friend hopefully.

"I don't know, tell them it's a gang war and that they found some experimental weapons or that the gas is making people see things that aren't really there." The witch said into her phone. "We'll try and deal with any of the heavy hitters just be careful." She said as the sisters grabbed hands to prepare to orb away.

"Same to you," Darryl Morris told his friends as he hung up and began barking out orders to the other officers in the room.

The sisters arrived at the bridge just in time to see the Rider appear and stop the truck with its bare hands. They then watched as everyone did their best to get out of the way as the Rider found itself facing off against the Source and whatever followers that it could get to come with on short notice. It was like something out of an action movie really. On the plus, side only the Rider and the Source were the only inhuman looking beings around in the standoff.

"How long do you think that we can keep them from going at it?" Phoebe questioned hopefully.

"Not long enough," Paige said nervously as they saw the bike appear and the Rider get on. "Plans and ideas?"

"Let them beat each other up and hope that they do it fast enough that they either kill each other off, or decide to run off before they cause major damage." Piper suggested to her sisters. "It's not like it'd be real smart to try and get in the middle of that." She added nodding towards the faceoff.

"Good point," Phoebe said watching the group their bodies highlighted by the glow of all of the powers that were being held at the ready to use.

"Destroy it," the Source commanded firing a bolt of energy at the Rider. The various demons reacted as their leader struck the Rider, and began raining down energy attacks at the Rider.

The Rider revved its engine and charged at the demons, its blade deflecting the attacks back at the demons as it got closer and closer. As it was amongst the demons it began hacking and slashing from side to side either blocking attacks or destroying demons. Soon a ring formed around the two most powerful demons.

"This doesn't look good, if they keep doing this then they're going to blow up the bridge or something." Paige said worriedly as she saw some of the cables on the bridge were melted from some of the stray shots.

"Wait a minute, I didn't notice last night, but that weapon it looks familiar somehow." Phoebe said as she tried to get a closer look at the ax like weapon that the Rider was using to decimate the various demons. "I just wish I knew where I'd seen it before." She said, as she scrunched her eyebrows in concentration as she tried to find some elusive and obscure memory.

The fight between the two forces was interrupted as the sound of sirens suddenly echoed towards them. The demons surrounding the pair paused as the turned and heard the sounds of the incoming mortals. "That's our cue," Piper said as she let loose with a powerful freezing, that would catch most of the demons within a hundred feet or so. The witch fell to her knees as she channeled all of the power required to keep the demons still. Even so, they could see several of the demons blurring as they began fighting the spell.

The other two were not idle though as they began lobbing or orbing potions towards the demons. The sisters began chanting and soon several of the demons managed to break free of their imprisonment but the sisters work was done and a quarter of the demons howled in pain and agony as they were vanquished. "Good work," Phoebe said as she eyed the rest of the demons that they had left.

"Yeah," Paige agreed, now what's plan B? She questioned as she eyed all of the other demons that were left.

The witches were saved by an unexpected ally. "You are lucky this time Rider," the Source told its opponent. There simply wasn't enough time to deal with both the Rider and the Charmed Ones before the mortals showed up. It was better to withdraw while it still could. "If you ever return to my dimension again I shall see to it that you are destroyed." The various demons disappeared, leaving the Rider and the sisters as the only ones on the bridge. The Rider turned to face the triad of witches looking at them with interest. The Charmed Ones were helpless though, as they had used all of their magical strength in the mass vanquish and were now waiting to see what the Rider would do.

They were saved from finding out though as a spotlight suddenly came on from a police helicopter highlighting the Rider. "This is the police," a voice echoed down at them, "put your hands on your head you are under arrest for instigating a gang war." The sisters had yet to be seen and hoped that they would be kept out of this as they hunkered behind several overturned cars. "This is your last warning, lay down on the ground now, or we will open fire." The person in the helicopter ordered as various officers stepped out of squad cars that now had the Slayer Rider in a half circle.

"You heard what they said," Darryl said as he leveled his gun at the Rider, wondering how he could get him and his men out of this in one piece. He knew that the sisters should have had the time to destroy this thing if it was a regular demon, the fact that it was still standing while the sisters were panting meant that the thing must be extremely powerful. That meant that this was not something that any of them should be trying to take on much less trying to arrest. The demon focused on Darryl for a moment and he felt as if it was judging him and he got the feeling as if the demon was looking into the depths of his soul and deciding what kind of person he was. He heard a word hissed through his mind 'defender's ally'. He managed to shake the impression off and refocused on the demon before them.

Slayer Rider snarled in defiance of the mortal lawmen, and released a blast of flame that caused the various officers to dodge out of the way of the dangerous looking flames. Revving its engine it popped a wheelie and the men began firing on the figure as it right through them. They watched in shock as the flaming figure flamed through the container of the downed semi and continued on its way back into San Francisco.

"After him," Darryl ordered his men as they all scrambled towards their cars while the helicopter followed from above with his spotlight trained on the fiery figure. He noticed the tell-tale sign of someone orbinig, and hoped that the sisters had managed to get away unnoticed.

Slayer Rider looked behind it and saw the various lawmen after it. As it got to the end, it saw more police cars waiting for it men with various weapons already taking aim for when the Rider tried to cross the line back into the city. As it got closer it saw a car leaning to the side. Aiming at it, the Rider used it to jump its bike and somehow managed to turn itself around and landed with a hard thunk on the main cable for the right side of the famous suspension bridge. Giving a mocking salute towards the assembled law officers it took off and the various people could only watch as fire burned on one side of their bridge as the unknown figure sped away high above them. The helicopter struggled to keep up with the figure and a sniper managed a few shots at it but soon it was on the other side of bridge and the figure disappeared without so much as a trace.

The Rider rode on, not stopping for anything as it traveled on Route 101 and zoomed down the highway in an effort to get away from the town.

* * *

The sisters returned home wondering what they would do now. "You guys realize whose weapon that was right?" Paige said nervously as her sisters helped her to a chair. Orbing them from the bridge to the manor had almost been more than she could really manage after the powerful mass banishing that they had performed.

"Yeah, Buffy Summers and the Rider are both carrying similar weapons." Piper said with a nod of her head. "They must be related somehow." She theorized. "Though, the one that she had was in a lot better shape when you consider the two." The sisters nodded their heads in agreement. While the Slayer owned a shining weapon that looked well made the Rider's weapon had looked corroded and rotting away ,the only thing keeping it whole was magic.

"It would explain why Buffy was trying so hard to find its target before it died." Paige speculated to the others.

"Yeah," Phoebe said nodding her head, "can you imagine having to hunt that thing down though?"

"It does explain the working vacation part of why she's here." Leo said as he appeared from a nearby room. "We may never know the connection between the weapons though. A Rider never needs to stay in a town more than a couple days, as that's all it needs to work a mission."

"Then I'm guessing that it got what it wanted and moved on." Piper said as Leo began checking her over.

"Think we'll see Buffy before she follows after it?" Paige questioned curiously.

"Doubtful", Leo told the sisters with a shake of his head. "It's more likely that she'll try and follow it.

"Huh to bad, I'm going to miss her." The pale skinned witch said. "She made things interesting."

"Yeah well, maybe we'll see her again another time." Piper suggested optimistically, "although I hope she doesn't bring any more demons like the Rider to our town if she does though."

"Think she deserves a page in the book?" Phoebe questioned the others, who nodded their heads in agreement as they headed up the stairs to make a new entry into the Book of Shadows.

Leo smiled at the sisters, he knew that the Elders hadn't told him everything about who Buffy Summers was, but the young warrior woman had obviously made a good impression on the sisters.

* * *

Buffy sighed as she realized that she had once again destroyed the city she had been staying in. This was becoming a rather bad habit of hers. She needed to find a spot off the main route and find out what she should do next. She took her map out and began searching for someplace that might be safe for her to be, someplace that she wouldn't be a threat to the people. Her eyes headed north tracing a possible route until they came to rest on a small town that looked like it was fairly out of the way. Port Columbia should be a good spot for her to ride to and then she would figure where she would go from there.

* * *

(Does anyone know who/what we're dealing with next?)

Next chapter is about half written.


	10. Crow I

And another chapter to this slow moving fic of mine. As usual I don't own any of the many characters that I am using in this mess. For this particular chapter I don't own the Crow Stairway to Heaven, BTVS, or the briefly mentioned Charmed characters.  


* * *

Buffy grumbled a bit as she looked at the map before her. She had headed North, away from everything that had happened in California, she wanted to get as far away from everything that had to do with being the Rider as possible. She had mailed a few letters to her sister from various locations telling her until she got some things taken care of that she wasn't safe and she would need to figure out her own path before she tried anything else. She knew her sister wouldn't like the fact that there was nothing that she could do and that she couldn't whine or plead until Buffy gave in would make things all the more troublesome for her. Still it was safer for all concerned for things to be this way. She had even managed to get the sisters to agree to send her letters making it even harder for her sister and her friends to track her. She knew that they would all be looking but by taking the precautions she had they should be okay. Sticking to using cash and what not meant that she could keep going for a while before anyone got lucky and traced her electronically. The sisters also made good contacts to learn about what was happening since she was doing her best to stay away from those connected to the magical world that her friends were likely to contact. The sisters also made good conversationalists, since she could talk about real things and be okay. Phoebe was actually being a real godsend in that case with her psychology degree and experience with her newspaper article. Buffy finally had a person willing to listen to her. Phoebe was starting her on the path towards being a better person. Having someone in the know trying to help her made things better for her.

The blonde was currently hiding out near the Canadian border on the off hope that Scratch would leave her alone. She knew that her chances of that weren't very good but she figured she might as well try. She had entered a town by the name of Port Columbia. It was far enough off of the beaten track that she figured that there might be a chance for her to get some things done without having to worry. When she had gotten to this supposedly no name place she had started to worry the place hummed with all the power of a low level hellmouth. Really not what she had been expecting when she had disappeared. The most disturbing thing about it though was that energy seemed to sooth the Rider inside of her. The demon within her knew exactly what it was that they were feeling it was the power of life and death an energy that her demon basked in it was the power of something that the closest thing that she could come up with was vengeance. She wasn't sure if that was the best way to describe it, it was just the one that seemed to make the most sense to her. There was hatred longing and a handful of other emotions. A part of her wondered if this is what vengeance demons felt like to those that could sense them. Maybe some of Anya's old friends were hanging around the town and were letting out some energy or something similar.

She was just about to leave when she sensed some guy moving through the bar and as he moved the power of the vengeance moved with him. She turned to see just what it was that she was dealing with and saw a real drool worthy guy. He had dark bronzed skin, black shoulder length hair, he was well built with narrow hips and broad shoulders, and narrow face as well. He was dressed in all black with a jacket that billowed behind him like a pair of wings. As she watched him, she had a flash of an image and she saw the image of a shadow that looked like a black bird of some kind trailing behind him. Then there were his eyes there was a familiar looking in them for the blonde. They were the jaded and half dead eyes of one that actually wished for death. She recognized them because they were so like the like the eyes that she once sported after her return from heaven and she had seen that same look in the mirror for months after her return from death. She wondered what could have happened to give this guy such eyes. It had actually taken being shot and being forced to fight side by side with her little sister against a horde of killer zombies that her best friend had sent at her to knock her back into reality and out of her hopes for death. She had learned that she actually had a reason to fight to stay alive. She hoped that it didn't take something similar to knock the look out of this guy's eyes. Unless he was evil, and then she hoped that someone got him before it was too late. She let her eyes linger on the guy as he purposely strode through the club. Her curious slayer side urged her after the guy to see just what it was that he was up to.

"You might as well not bother." The bartender said knowingly, as she followed where the blonde's eyes were going. "That's Eric Draven, and he's never interested no matter what you do or say. Trust me, I've seen and tried just about every known method there is on him and have yet to get more than just an embarrassed smile from him."

"Is he gay?" Buffy questioned, as she continued to watch the guy with interest.

"I wish, it would make life so much easier if he was." The woman said sadly. "It's just that no woman can live up to the memory of his dead girlfriend. The gal's been dead for nearly two years but as far as he's concerned it might just as well have been yesterday. He's always grieving her no matter what."

"Shame," Buffy said as she eyed him, "what happened to her?"

"Some local thugs decided to gang bang her, and then kill both of them. Somehow he survived though, no one is actually sure how he did it. The details aren't real clear since there was a funeral and everything for him open casket even. Yet there he is with all the bad attitude one would expect from a rocker."

"A real shame since he's kind of cute." Buffy noted, as she finished her drink off, her mind already whirling in trying to figure out just what it was that she was dealing with. A zombie maybe? She had run across some that had human like tendencies and she remembered hearing rumors about a group of zombies that were like that.

She had been busy with preparing for an apocalypse though and hadn't had time to worry about them though she had heard Xander mention the type before. He never did tell her what happened to them though, only that they had been dealt with. It was time to go though, preferably before something happened that had her burning this town down for some reason or other. She headed outside and as she was checking her bike over she noticed Draven was zooming away on a much older bike with a bird of some sort flying behind him. The blonde's eyes followed him and then with a sigh she jumped onto her own bike and followed after him. She knew it was none of her business, but she also needed to know what he was. If he was a zombie she needed to deal with him and if he was a warlock or something learning how to raise the dead then she needed to warn the sisters and maybe Willow of his existence before he made a deal with a demon to bring his dead girlfriend back. She also had to know since her enhanced Spidey sense was still saying something was off about him. It was extremely dark whatever it was that she was sensing and she needed to know just what it was. Once she was sure he wasn't an immediate threat she would decide what to do with him. She therefore zipped after him intent to finding out just who and what he was.  


* * *

Short chapter I know but it was the best cut off point I could find. The next chapter has a good chunk already done.


	11. Crow II

I didn't know if I would ever get this chapter done. My computer destroyed it twice while I was working on it. Anyways as usual I own de nada of the characters.

* * *

Following after the hunk led to the docks, and a bored Buffy found a safe place to park her bike and then found a place to watch what the guy was doing. She watched as the guy was currently duking it out with some guys. There was four of them, two of them were already on the ground, one was leaning against a wall and the last one was in the middle of receiving a foot to his face courtesy of a spin kick. Whatever else he was he was a good fighter. The Slayer noted, as she watched the guy send several punches to his much larger opponent's chest.

As the last member of the group fell there was a shout. "Draven!" The long haired man turned and saw a dark skinned man in a rumpled suit coming toward him. He had a well-trimmed beard and most of his hair was cut neatly.

"Albrecht," Eric said with a smirk as he tossed the group of thugs into a pile. He then faced one of the few people that he would still actually claim as a friend. The two men had a strained friendship at times, since Draven answered to the laws of a higher power while Albrecht answered to the laws of man. It sometimes put a strain on their friendship, leaving them sometimes on opposite sides and sometimes working together in their attempts to keep their part of the world safe. "What's up?" The man possessed by the power of the Crow questioned.

"Just wondering if this has anything to do with you?" Albrecht returned, as he shoved a newspaper into the chest of his supernatural vigilante friend.

"Glad to see you to Albrecht, I'm fine thanks for asking." Eric said sarcastically, as he took the paper off of his chest opened it and looked at the headline article. The headline picture was split, on one side there was a flaming skeleton on the other was a map with a trail starting in Texas and working its way up to California, it was a line that was making its way upward though. "What's this then?" He questioned his friend and sometimes information source in confusion.

"This thing, this Rider as they're calling it has done all sorts of damage in Austin, L.A, and San Francisco Draven." Albrecht explained to the man before him in annoyance. "What's more, this thing is doing things that shouldn't be humanly possible: throwing fireballs, is bullet proof, riding on the water, riding up the sides of buildings, the only thing it hasn't been shown to be able to do yet is fly. To make things worse, every time it's seen, it's just a little bit closer to here." He said as he nodded to the path that the Rider was taking. "At this rate, it could be here in a few months."

Eric let the surprise cross his face as he finally understood why the detective was so upset. "You think this thing is after me, and is merely trying to find me?" He asked as he took another look at the image of the flaming figure.

"Either you, or those like you." Albrecht returned to the former rocker. "We know that you're not the only one of your kind, what if this whatever it is, is hunting for you guys?"

"It's possible, though I thought our enemies were the Snakes this could be something else entirely though." Eric said as he tried to figure out just what it was that they might be possibly facing. "You know that I didn't invite this thing though right." He said not really wanting to hear his friend's accusations on that front. "This thing, whatever it is. It was last seen in California, and we both know I haven't left town long enough to get there and back. So how can you blame this one on me?"

"Simple, whenever we hear about some crazy forgotten legend or something weird starts happening, it always leads back to you somehow." Albrecht returned to Eric with a look. The young man didn't have an answer to that one as he was right in the fact that things usually did lead back to the Crow in some way or other. "I just want us to be prepared for whatever thing it is that you or someone like you has probably pissed off this time around. It would be a nice change of pace opposed to how we are usually forced to deal with these sorts of crazy things."

"You think that I ever plan on dealing with half of the things that we have to deal with?" Eric questioned in disbelief and some slight anger. "I didn't exactly ask for all of this you know." He spat at the cop.

"Well if you would just stop attracting all of the weird mumbo jumbo freaks who are always coming after you for some idiotic reason or other, then we wouldn't be having this problem." Albrecht returned to him not about to back down from the man.

"Hey, if you have an idea on how to get me out of this part of reality and onto the afterlife with Shelly or whatever you want to call it I'm all for it." Eric returned to the man. "Heck, I'd almost be happy to hear any ideas you have on how to avoid some of the creatures that we run across from time to time. You have any real thoughts on that then I'm all ears."

"Sorry." Albrecht finally said, he knew exactly how much Draven wanted to move on from his duties as a Crow so that he could save Shelly from being stuck in limbo and they could move on. The two men backed off a bit. "Fine, but I want it on record that I'm not crazy about having something like this coming after us. I've already warned HQ that I think that the creature or whatever it is will strike our town soon. Then you can meet your ugly cousin or whatever the hell it is."

Eric looked at his friend incredulously. "You really think that is going to help? If this thing is after me, I really doubt that the police here are going to be able to help. It's ripped through the cops in those other three cities and they have a lot more manpower than you do."

"Yeah I know." Albrecht admitted bitterly. "That's why I brought you this." He added as he handed a large file over to his friend. "This file is a compilation from Detective Wagner and Inspector Morris. It has everything that's been recorded on from Austin, L.A, and San Francisco, including all of the known tricks and abilities this thing is supposed to have. Maybe if we're prepared enough we can stop this thing."

Eric nodded as he took the file from the detective and began to examine it. "Controls some sort of fire ability? What am I supposed to do against fire powers?"

"Hey, you're the one with all the freaky powers, I'm sure that you'll think of something." Albrecht assured the younger man.

The two men then quickly went about gathering the fallen thugs and tossed them into Albrecht's car. As the last one was locked in Eric froze as he got a vision from his Crow. The bird's eye view he had was of a figure that was watching them from on top of a building. "I think it's time for you to go Albrecht." He told his friend. "I do believe that I'm about to have some company."

"You sure about that, I mean you might want some help?" Albrecht asked as he scanned the area for their mystery guest.

"Well, whoever they are, they don't appear to be on fire and I don't see any dancing skeletons around either." Eric joked I should be okay foe this one he assured. He then turned his head to look towards the figure that was spying on them.

The two men were interrupted as a figure leapt from the roof and caught a chain that was hanging in the air and swing on it before releasing it and landing before them in a crouch. Eric moved in between the newcomer and his friend. Leather pants, biker jacket, boots, gloves, and a tight shirt clothed the figure. A blonde head of hair hung down hiding parts of her face. Eric and the blonde stared at each other as she slowly rose to her feet. Dark eyes met hazel as each one took the other in.

"What are you?" The blonde questioned curiously, as she finished breaking the silence between the pair.

"Excuse me?" Eric asked in surprise, as he tries to show confusion to hide any worry that he might actually be feeling over being called out like that.

"You're not completely evil, but there's something off about you. There's some kind of wig-some feeling about you. So I'm wondering just what you are." The blonde returned to him.

Eric frowned at that, this blonde woman could somehow sense the Crow. He had no idea what he was facing other Crows couldn't even sense each other so what was he facing off against? Such a power could be extremely dangerous if she were sent out to hunt him or something similar.

"I could ask the same as you." The former rocker finally returned as his eyes glanced upward where the woman had been earlier. "You're obviously more than you seem as well. I know we're different though."

"Your right, we're different." The blonde said with a smirk. "I've been many things over the years though. Protector, Champion, Fighter, Warrior, Guardian, Slayer, Dead, lately I've been a Wanderer though.

"I've been Dead, Musician, Lover, Traveler, Messenger, Teacher, Soldier, and a Nightmare." Eric returned to her.

"We sound like a bad country song or the chorus to something." The blonde said with a smirk.

"That we do." Eric said as he eyed the woman, wondering what her next move would be.

"So, where do we go from here?" The blonde said curiously. "Do I leave you here and hope you're not a danger to the people, or do I deal with you in a more permanent way? Cause I have to say, Nightmare really not much in reassuring list."

"I'll show you where you can go!" A voice said, as a young girl barely into her teens shouted as she exploded from where she had been hiding. The young girl aimed a high kick then followed those up with several devastating swings and punches. "You're not hurting Eric." The girl shouted at the young woman.

"Sarah no." The two men said trying to get the girl to back away from the older woman. The pair watched as the pair seemed to blur across the dock.

The blonde laughed a bit as she dodged the attacks in an almost casual manner. Her casual sidesteps seem to mock the younger girl who tried all the harder to make one of her blows connect with the unknown blonde.

"Sarah, stand down. We don't attack unless we know what we're going up against." Eric scolded the girl.

The girl ignored him as she sent a heavy fist toward her target. The blonde's hand shot out though and caught the incoming limb. "You're one of mine." The woman said knowingly, as she easily held the fist. She then twisted the arm around behind the girl and held the struggling girl there. "You got the power kid, but you don't know anything about using it." She then spun Sarah away from her and while the girl was regaining her feet she kicked her in the gut sending the girl flying where she landed in a heap.

"Sarah," Eric said as he got in between the blonde and the young girl that was his only remaining link to his past self. The girl had forced him to accept life, to move on and to try and exist for as long as possible while he tried to understand what had happened to him and to help those that he could. The little girl that had once been his and Shelly's neighbor was now lying in a crumpled mess. The two men knelt down and checked the girl over.

"Looks like she'll be alright." Albrecht said with relief

"Good," Eric said slowly rising to his feet. The former musician fumed for a moment while his back was turned to the blonde before slowly turning angry eyes towards her. "You shouldn't have done that." He said as he angrily stalked toward the woman and stopped right before her. Rather than the uncertainty that he was used to seeing in his opponents, he saw the young woman was merely waiting for him to make the first move. In fact the casual way that she held herself made him think that she wasn't even that scared. Considering what he had just seen her doing though he could hardly blame her for her lack of concern. Then again she probably thought he was just some guy despite everything that they had both said and what she had felt from him. "I'm warning you that I've got a lot more experience than the kid does." He told her angrily.

"Something tells me that you're not really the kind to accept an oops, or point out that she started it." The woman noted, as she calmly looked him over waiting for him to make the first move. "Thought not." She said as she noticed the stance that he had taken.

Eric glared back in return he figured he might as well take advantage of it, as he doubted that she would be this open again. He swung an angry fist at the woman at nearly full speed and strength and watched in surprise as she casually ducked the blow. Only Crows and Snakes were usually able to keep up with him at this speed. This young woman had actually dodged it though. There was no knife so it meant that it was doubtful that she was a Snake, and she didn't act like a Crow either. This left a lot of questions, and not very many answers though.

"You're almost as fast as me." The girl said idly, as the follow up punch came in at her ribs and she knocked the arm back. "You still got a long way to go before you're ready to take on a Slayer though." She informed him.

Eric was more than a little surprised that she was able to so deftly push his blow away. The girl was at the very least as strong as he was, maybe even stronger. Just what was she that she could meet him in a one on one fight? "I'll take my chances." He told her with a calmness that he did not feel, as he faced off with the woman.

"You're funeral." The woman said with a shrug and suddenly the two were going at it and trading blows as they moved up and down the dock neither of them appearing to have a better chance than the other. "So," the blonde said after a couple of minutes of this and neither of them had actually managed to get anything more than minor strikes at each other. "You never did tell me what you are."

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Eric said as he performed two jabs at her before back flipping away from her leg sweep.

"Oh come on, I already told you that I was a Slayer, I'm just curious what it is that I'm fighting." She chirped at him mockingly, as she tried to kick him in the stomach only for him to catch her leg. "Fair is fair." She said, she then performed a twist and used the leverage from his hold to try and swing her other leg into his face. He released her leg and ducked letting the foot fly over his head.

"Life is rarely fair." Eric returned calmly as he came back up swinging, only for the woman's to catch his attack leaving the two straining against each other. Eric grimaced as he realized that he was slowly being forced back as the much stronger opponent began to dominate him. That was a new experience since the only thing he had ever met that could match him in power were other Crows or the one supernatural being that hunted Crows. Snakes. Beings that had been murdered by Crows, and became the sworn enemies of Crows because of the crimes committed against them. They were the one thing that he knew of that could easily kill a Crow. He knew she wasn't a Snake though, because she had no idea what he was and Snakes could detect Crows no matter where they went and only stopped once they or the Crow they were currently hunting was dead. She was different though, and with his friends at stake he did the only thing that he could think of that would let him win this fight.

Buffy stared at the guy as his long hair covered his face for a moment, and when he looked back up the guy looked like he was trying to imitate one of the members of Kiss. His face now being white, with black eyeliner around his eyes and lips. She really hoped that he hadn't gotten the tongue as well because could she say gross much. "Okay, I'm kind of impressed." She admitted as she looked the guy over. "I mean you kind of already had the bad boy rocker vibe going before, but this is something entirely different. Now you got the dangerous and psycho one as well."

"Let me show you the dark side of the moon little one." Crow said as he began swing a lot faster and stronger and the fight that the Slayer had been on the verge of winning suddenly reversed as the Crow began beating on her. A kick to the face stunned her and then another to the gut slammed her through the wall of a building.

The Crow began stalking toward the building when a ball of fire erupted out of the hole and slammed into the Crow. The creature hissed out angrily as it was tossed back. It patted the flames out where it had been hit as if the flames were hurting it. The wait wasn't long as everyone turned to see the figure that was walking through the hole. It appeared as if the girl had another form as well, as they saw it finally step out of the building.

* * *

"Oh crap," Albrecht muttered, "I just knew something like this was going to happen sooner or later." He complained as he raised his gun at the thing and began firing at it. Thing was the best way that he could describe it. Since Eric Draven had come back from the dead as the Crow he had seen a lot of weird things. However, seeing a blonde woman turn into a flaming skeleton was enough to worry even him. He watched in frustration, as his bullets hit the creature but didn't seem to have effect on the thing.. Bullet proof just like all the reports said what's more it seemed like it was a lot tougher by its reaction as well. With a Crow, the force of the shots would at least knock them back. This thing didn't even seem to notice getting hit though. This wasn't good, there was no way that he could do anything against this Rider thing. He would have to wait until Eric got up to do something. The flaming skeleton stomped over to where the Crow had fallen. As it neared though the Crow flipped itself up to its feet and began an assault of lighting fast strikes that struck all over the fiery figure.

"Zarathos." The Crow said with a wide grin. "I always wondered if we would meet again."

"_Crow_." Rider merely snarled, as it swung its skeletal hand at the Crow who ducked beneath the blow. Albrecht could only watch as flames, black leather, and ivory bones clashed against each other in a flurry of violence that was the equivalent of some sort of action movie. He watched in disbelief as the Crow kicked the Rider in the chest by flipping off it and then landed on his feet. The Rider was tossed back, but its feet merely skidded against the ground leaving a trail of flame. It returned with a charging run and punch, which sent the Crow flying. 

"Oh crap, this is not good." A voice from behind said. Albrecht turned to see who was there, and cocked its head as it saw two figures standing alongside of him. He quickly raised his gun to cover them in case they were a threat of some sort. Of course if they shared the other two fighters disregard for being shot then it was a pretty useless gesture.

One was dark skinned, wore sunglasses and wore a lot of western themed clothing adorned with skulls and carried a cane. All in all, the figure reminded him somewhat of a pimp. The man merely smirked at the detective and his weapon as if he was unconcerned over the threat that they represented.

"Who are you?" Albrecht questioned as he looked at the figures that seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere.

"You can call him the Skull Cowboy, and you can call me Whistler." The somewhat nasally voice of the other figure said. The detective turned to look at the figure that had identified itself as Whistler. He was dressed like he was the extra from an old gangster movie complete with bad fitting clothes. "Now then, we need the two of them to stop doing what they're doing before they tear this entire town apart." Whistler informed the detective.

"He's right, as agents of the Powers those two aren't supposed to be fighting." Skull Cowboy noted as he eyed the two champions with a smirk as if it all amused him. "The two of them are supposed to fight the darkness not each other."

"What's going on here?" Albrecht demanded angrily. "Who or what is that girl or whatever?"

"Been a while since anyone referred to her as 'that girl' she might actually thank you for that description." Whistler said with a chuckle, as he looked at the figure that had replaced the blonde. "Then again she's just as likely to feed you that gun of yours for calling her a whatever. Got to say she's really started letting herself go if she's doing that sort of thing though." He said somewhat disappointedly as he watched the Rider leap through a building and at the Crow. "Does partly explain why she's been hard to find though.

"And the two of you are who exactly?" Albrecht demanded of the pair, his gun still hovering between the pair.

"Would you put that toy of yours away already?" Skull Cowboy requested in annoyance as he looked at the man. When the detective didn't show any signs of complying his slammed his pimp cane into Albrecht's gun sending the weapon skittering away. "Thank you, I really hate getting shot. It's almost as bad as getting stabbed, not something that I really enjoy. Not all of us can be blessed to have bullets bounce off of us like Skip used to be able to do." He added in.

"Not like he's doing much of anything anymore after Angel and his bunch dealt with Jasmine's follower. A blade through the brain does kill just about everything." Whistler said getting an agreeing nod from his companion.

"So who are you two?" Albrecht repeated, while rubbing his hand where he had been struck.

"Consider us as the Messengers." Skull Cowboy returned to the man as he tipped his hat. "It's our job to inform our charges when they need to do something or if they need help we're supposed to nudge them in the right direction so that the world continues on as it has. The two idiots that are currently trying to burn your docks down and kill each other are our charges. Doesn't it make your heart all a flutter to see what the champions of the world do when they're not trying to save the world." "So, any ideas on how to stop them?" Albrecht questioned while ignoring the sarcasm that the being was spouting off about the pair of Champions.

"See that's where it gets kind of interesting." Whistler said nervously while staring at his feet with interest. "Slayer or Slayer Rider as she goes by these days over there doesn't exactly have the warm fuzzies when it comes to me." He admitted to the detective. "As for Skull Cowboy here, well he's only ever talked to his boy once so they don't exactly have the closest of relationships."

"At least mines better than yours is." Skull Cowboy said confidently. "My Champion isn't as likely to kill me."

"So in other words, what you're saying is that the two of you could just as easily cause them to go even more berserk than they are now." Albrecht questioned in disbelief as he listened to the pair wincing as he saw a speed boat blow up.

"That about covers it." The Skull Cowboy agreed with a smirk, as he watched the two fighters continue to beat away at each other neither of them willing to give up against each other. "The two of them are going to keep going at it until something or someone makes them stop. Considering that it would require someone of considerable power to stop them I guess that you'll have to wait until they wear each other out." He said with an uncaring shrug.

"That's not an option." Albrecht spat at the Balance Demon. "By the time those two are finally tired they'll have destroyed the entire dock and warehouse district at the very least. While you may not care about that I do. Now how do we stop them?"

"You don't." A new voice said as an old man leaning on a cane appeared. "You won't be able to stop them, not with those two at your side." The old man said indicating the pair of Balance Demons that were looking decidedly uncomfortable. "They may be good at giving evasive answers and disappearing after giving the answers that their boss wants them to give but other than that they're pretty useless. Messenger pigeons are more useful than these two are."

"Would you people stop doing that!" Albrecht said as he glared at the newest arrival to the fiasco that this was turning into. "If it weren't bad enough that we have got a small war going on here." He said waving at the pair of fighters as they crashed through another wall. "I've got you crazies popping up all over the place."

"Yes, not exactly proper manners." The old man said in amusement.

Albrecht's shoulders sagged a bit before he turned to look at the newest addition to their group. "What are you doing here anyways? If this guy is an agent for the Crow and this guy is for the Slayer then who do you represent?"

The old man chuckled at that. "You may have heard of me young man, I am Mephistopheles."

"Wait like from the books?" Albrecht questioned worriedly as he tried to remember his classes on what had been said on that figure.

"Yes that's me." The old man said with a knowing grin as he saw the worry cross the face of the man before him. "I am the Deal Maker. Every deal in the supernatural goes through me somehow or other. There are of course those that try and go around me, but eventually I have some part in it. Despite all the great efforts to shove me out of the business." Mephistopheles explained.

"Great, so why are you here? If these two jokers are here for them then I can't see much reason for you to be here." The detective returned to Mephistopheles.

"Ah yes, well Whistler might have forgotten to mention that the Slayer went and made a deal with me since I actually made an effort to save someone important to the girl. Not much of one mind you," he added in with a knowing smile, "but enough of one to get what I wanted from her. Which I might add, is quite a bit more than your bosses did Whistler." He said as he looked at the badly dressed demon.

"Yeah, well look at what you're playing around with a Slayer is doing to the world." Whistler exclaimed, as he gestured to all the fire and destruction that was surrounding them. "Even you can't say that this is alright. How can you think that even you can benefit from all of this?"

"I didn't tell her to come here." Mephistopheles returned to the Balance Demon in a sharp clipped tone. "She came here of her own free will and choice. This is a result of her decisions, not something I did. There is also the fact that she did not start this fight, but she is more than willing to end it since the Crow can't behave itself. If you want to blame someone for her being unprepared then maybe you should blame yourselves or the Watcher for never telling her of the various other heroes that also cohabitate and protect the world with her."

"It was never her concern, and when it finally mattered that needed to be told she was your servant." Whistler shot back defiantly.

"If the ones that you represent have the power to manipulate fate and destiny to the point that they can create the vampire with a souls miracle child then couldn't they have helped the Slayer?" Mephistopheles returned to him with a mocking sneer. "I just made the best of a situation that you allowed to happen. Your bosses made their choice just as she made her choice. The fact that they are not choices that coincide is in no way my fault. You keep taking away from someone sooner or later they're going to take something back. Whether you like it or not. As for this little thing, I'd hardly say it's the problem that you're making it out to be."

"Not a problem, are you seeing what they're doing out there?" Albrecht asked in disbelief as the he looked at the line of fire and destruction that the pair's running battle had created. He could distantly see the pair a ways away. A punch that they could hear from where they were standing sent the Crow tumbling in their direction. "And what do you mean that you don't have any part of her? You wouldn't be here if you didn't"

"I have nothing to do with the Slayer side," Mephistopheles returned, "as for the Rider side well that's all my work. When it comes to her doing the skeleton and hellfire thing it's my business."

"So who do you work for?" the detective asked as he tried to figure a way to break the fighters apart.

"I am the boss in this matter Detective." Mephistopheles informed the man, looking insulted that he had been considered as nothing more than the hired help.

"Wait, so you mean you're the one responsible for her being like this?" Albrecht questioned. "Then that means that you can stop it." He reasoned with relief. "Once she's back to human I'm pretty sure that I can get Draven back in control." He said confidently, as he tried to figure the best way to pull this off.

"It is rather impressive and I really wish I could let the two continue as they have, however I have a new job for the Rider." Mephistopheles noted with regret. "Who knows when the two of them will get a chance to reconnect like this."

"What do you mean reconnect?" Albrecht questioned curiously.

"The Spirit of Vengeance is something of a father or an older sibling to the Crow. They are usually on the opposite side of conflicts; I'm sure that they saw each other and just presumed that they were supposed to be fighting each other. They appear to be having fun while they're going about it though don't they?" He asked with what could almost be considered a fond smile. "Still, I do need to get my other business done." Mephistopheles said as he took a step forward. "Come along, we might as well get this over with." He commanded as he ushered the other two figures forward. The two Balance Demons nodded as they all disappeared and reappeared alongside the pair. "Alright you two, that's enough." He commanded as he reached out to stop the pair. The Rider had the Crow in a one armed choke hold while it was using its other arm to beat on its victim. The Crow on the other hand was taking advantage of being so close by sending several kicks towards the head of the flaming figure. The minute the figure spoke the two figures stopped in their tracks though the way that their bodies were shaking it was obvious that they were fighting whatever hold that the Demon Lord had over them and were still attempting to get at each other.

"Yeah Slayer, it's time to take a break from all the senseless violence." Whistler said hesitantly.

_"Whistler."_ The Rider snarled, as it dropped the Crow and spun around and faced the Balance Demon. The flames that surrounded it seemed to flare even brighter and hotter before.

"Hey kid, long time no see." Whistler said nervously as he eyed the fiery possessed Slayer.

_"Not long enough."_ The Rider said as it suddenly had some weird flaming ax like weapon with a sharpened tip in its hand.

"Now remember Kid, its bad procedure to kill the messenger." Whistler said as he eyed the weapon over.

Not even hesitating, the Slayer Rider drove the sharped stake end of the weapon into the shoulder of the Balance Demon. Whistler screamed as he fell to the ground even as the Rider twisted its weapon around forcing the Demon to try and pull himself off of the weapon. The flames made it impossible for him to grab it though. The Slayer Rider let it sit there for a moment watching with interest as the flames began cooking Whistler from the inside out.

"Mephisto." The Crow spat, as it climbed to its feet while the others watched the Rider attack the Balance Demon.

_"Scratch."_ The Rider hissed out in greeting as if only now noticing the presence of the Demon Lord.

"As amusing as it is to watch you do your work, I do have more important things for you to do than hellfire broil him from the inside out." Mephisto said with a grin. "Tell your playmate goodbye, you have other things to do now. I have a mission for you."

The Slayer Rider nodded its head as the weapon seemed to disappear, leaving a moaning Whistler curled up on the ground. The Rider stared down at the Balance Demon and even without any flesh it seemed to be able to convey all the contempt it felt for Whistler.

Whistler looked up from the ground where he was clutching his sides. "You've changed Kid. You're a hell of a lot more ruthless than you ever were before." Whistler wheezed out, as he stared at the Slayer Rider with a new found fear. "Only time you ever tried that kind of thing was when someone messed with your family. Don't know if it's what you've been, or if it's that thing inside of you Kid but you better be careful just what it is that you decide to do and how far it is that you're really willing to go." He declared to the Slayer Rider ominously.

The Slayer Rider snorted at him in contempt as it began striding away. A flaming motorcycle rolled up beside it. It stood still for a moment before muscle skin hair and organs regrew themselves over the body and the blonde girl reappeared.

Buffy looked at Eric with a grin. "A Crow huh? Kind of cool trick you got there." She complimented him. She then turned her eyes to the still unconscious form of Sarah. "She should be alright, I just hit her harder than I meant to. That's the problem with having two sources of power, sometimes you go way beyond what you meant to do. Be sure that she knows just how lucky she is to have you guys to teach her how to live with the power. It can be overwhelming at times." She said with a sad yet knowing smile as she looked the girl over.

"We will." Albrecht said warily, unsure what the young woman was going to do next.

"Good to know. Here's the number to some witches if you ever need help and they have ways of contacting me as needed." She said as she scribbled the number of the sisters down. She really hoped that they didn't mind her handing out their number. "If things get bad they'll be there to help." She assured the two guys. "Even if you just have questions they might be willing to help."

"Thanks, that could come in handy." Albrecht said as he took the number gratefully.

"Yeah have them tell you the basics of the Slayer they'll explain her power and where it comes from." Buffy informed him. "If you have questions after that I'll get the answers to you."

"Well Slayer, come on maybe we can figure a way to beat that thing that's inside of you." Whistler said as he slowly climbed to his feet. "If we can get you out of your deal then maybe we can get you back to being with your friends so that you can put the Council back together and save the world like you're supposed to be doing."

"Whistler, we're not friends and we're not allies." Buffy said refusing to even look at the Balance demon. "We fight the war from two different fronts. That is if you actually fight the war at all. I'm not completely sure if you do anything other than tell people where to go as needed. The desperate move when time is running out and the Powers can't chance riddles and prophecies to motivate people. Despite your job though Whistler, you don't serve the light I can feel the darkness within you. No, you and the Powers don't want either side to win you guys want to keep the status quo."

"True enough." Whistler admitted to her unrepentantly, "Which is a sight better than serving some demon like him though. He shot back while jerking a thumb toward Mephistopheles.

"At least he's honest about who and what he is." Buffy returned to him. "I made the deal, so I'll deal with it. Better to be his servant than to be the Slave of the Powers anyways."

"Oh come on Kid you were never a slave." Whistler said looking insulted and wounded at the description of her service.

"Whistler I was expected to fight, bleed, and die for your balance." She returned heatedly. "I actually died for your bosses twice." Buffy reminded him. "What benefit did I ever get from that?" Buffy had now turned to face the demon and everyone could see a trace of flames around her as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. "Becoming the Slayer was the worst thing to ever happen to me. Your bosses just flipped a coin and shoved the power into one girl after the other. I at least have a say in my life. I'm not bound to one place just because you say so, or because the evil of the Hellmouth is in one place."

"Come on Kid, they gave you things as you needed them." Whistler said in defense of the Powers. The girl's successes made him look good to a certain extent if she continued to bad mouth the Powers and work against them though the good will he had gathered as her messenger was going to evaporate. That was really not an option that he wanted to consider.

"Really and what is it that you gave me?" Buffy questioned him. "And don't say Angel, we both know that's a lie. I was supposed to be Angel's teacher and show him how to be a hero, maybe even so he could become the next guardian of the Hellmouth even." Her eyes narrowed as she saw Whistler flinch. "That was it wasn't it? She demanded of him. "You had it all planned out, that I was going to die at the hands of the master and then Angel was supposed to fight for my memory or some other crap like that. Because Xander and Angel decided to ignore your plans though I lived and you decided to take Angel away because it didn't work into your plans. And don't try and tell me you had nothing to do with it either it has the marks of the Powers all over them."

"What about the rug rat then?" Whistler said hopefully.

"Are you sure you want to take the credit for that?" Buffy asked stonily. "You know precisely what that spell cost me. I lost some very important things because of that spell. So think real hard about whether or not you want to take the credit for that mess since it's partly the reason that we're here today."

"Uh, yeah probably not." Whistler said in agreement.

Buffy reached out and grabbed the Balance Demon and slammed him into a wall. He yelled as the superheated metal scorched his skin. "If you and your bosses know what's good for them they'll stay away Whistler." The Slayer hissed into the ear of the demon. "I'm free of them and as soon as I pay my debt to Memphis I'm going to stay that way. If you try and force me back well just have to see just how powerful I really am." She then released the demon and let him fall to the ground in a heap.

Mephistopheles smirked at the downed and beaten Whistler before he turned to look at Draven who had reverted back to his human form and was listening to what the blonde was saying with interest. It made him think of his own situation with Shelly and made him wonder how long he would be chasing after her. "Whenever you're ready for real power, or for when you think that your tired of working for some unknown goal for the promise of reconnecting with someone in the afterlife call for me. There may be ways that I can make a deal with you." He offered the young Champion knowingly.

"Hey, you've already got one of our Champions, there's no reason to go and try and steal another." Skull Cowboy said reminding them all that he was indeed there.

Eric nodded at the Demon Lord uncertainly unsure exactly what to think of the old man before him as the one that had some control over the Rider.

Get going, I'll see you on my road." Mephisto ordered, while ignoring the Balance Demons as the blonde nodded her head in agreement.

Albrecht cocked his ears as he heard the distant wail of sirens. "You can either get out of this town now or Draven and all of law enforcement will be seeing just how tough you really are." He warned the blonde.

Buffy chuckled at him as she leaped on her bike. "Trust me, they won't be able to keep up where I'm going, and if I were to decide and deal with them there's not a thing that you, they, or the Bird Boy could do to stop me." She promised him, she then turned to look at Draven. "By the way, Buffy Summers." She said offering her hand.

Eric grinned at her. "Eric Draven." He said and the two shook hands.

The blonde blew a kiss toward Albrecht then she gunned her engine.

Flames erupted all over her as the Rider retook control. _"Later!_ The Slayer Rider called, and began riding straight into the incoming mass of emergency vehicles.

"Oh shit!" The detective said as he rushed at his car. "Come on Draven we've got to figure some way to keep all of those people safe."

The long haired former rocker nodded his head as he placed the still unconscious Sarah into the front seat of the car. He then picked his bike up and roared after the crazy demon thing that could expose him to the whole world. They had learned a lot today.

Skull Cowboy knelt down beside the bleeding Whistler. "I really don't look forward to explaining all of this to the people in charge."

"Tell me about it." Whistler rasped, as he slowly pushed himself back up. "Knowing the Slayer like I do though, things are going to get a lot crazier before they get better." The pair watched as the Slayer Rider headed off on the next mission that Scratch had for her heedless of the various cars chasing her or of the damage that she was causing. They turned to look at the Demon Lord, but saw that he had already left.

Yes things were different. The missing Slayer had been found briefly, but she was nearly untrackable and was no longer following the commands of the Powers. There was no telling what the reaction to this would be. The girl was also becoming more willing to dish out injuries if her fights with the Crow and assault on Whistler were any clue. Things were about to get even more interesting. Only time would tell if it was for good or ill.


	12. 666

Well its been a while for this one, but here's a new chapter. I don't own the BTVS, Marvel, Charmed, or Supernatural characters used in this chapter.

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Buffy was riding along on her bike until she came alongside of a sign and stopped her bike for a moment as she looked at it. US Route 491 is what was written, but Buffy could see something more. As she studied the sign more intently it seemed to change before her very eyes. Imposed over it in flames a pentagram appeared with the numbers 666 at the top flashed brightly. It seemed that only people that were connected to the supernatural side of things could actually see just what it was that was really written on the sign.

Buffy had heard of this infamous stretch of the highway, but hadn't actually thought that there was anything supernatural about it. The Devils Highway as it was often called. Mephisto was being a tad bit arrogant if he was actually saying that this was his road though. It did fit with his character though. Still, there weren't very many people that could lay claim to being as much like the devil as him either though.

The blonde was broken from her thoughts as she saw Scratch appear. Nearby another figure appeared. Buffy eyed the new comer suspiciously. Anyone that could pull off an instant teleport like that had to be somebody with serious mojo. Of all the various beings that she had encountered only Scratch and Willow had been able to pull off that trick. Considering they had all kicked her ass that really made her wary of this one. He didn't appear to be as old as Scratch, somewhere in his 30's or 40's. Then again, Buffy had learned long ago never to try and judge the age of someone involved in the supernatural world based on their appearances. Angel and Spike were both prime examples of that. Looking at them, one wouldn't believe that they were between 200 and 150 years old. The guy was also wearing a very stylish suit, Armani and silk if her eyes weren't betraying her. If she was Cordy, she would have been able to calculate the exact amount that the suit cost. The way he carried himself reminded her somewhat of Spike. Not the whole rebel with an attitude though. No, this was a guy that knew he was a bad ass, powerful, Big Bad, and was proud of it. Walking at his side was the biggest dog Buffy had ever seen in her life. The things head came up to the guy's shoulders.

"Crowley." Mephisto greeted the figure with a curt nod.

"Scratch old boy, glad to see that you got my invite." Crowley said with a smirk. His Scottish accent sure did add to his character.

The two figures stared at each other for a moment when the air shimmered and a familiar cloaked figure appeared with them. The cloaked figure started at seeing the group before schooling itself. The Source didn't even say anything, though the way it turned its head in Buffy's direction she was pretty sure that the guy was glaring at her. There was a well-dressed guy in a well-made suit standing alongside of him. Not as expensive as Crowley's, but possibly a custom fit job.

She ignored the demon though, as smoke seemed to billow from the ground and yet another familiar figure appeared. This one was wearing robes as well, but the hood was down so that she could see its face. Bluish gray skin with giant horns and a white beard that was braided together. At his side was a veiny demon that looked like it was part Polgara due to how large it was. The figure smiled at the assembled demons. Something that made people that knew who and what he was all the more wary of it. A good mood for this being usually meant pain suffering and death for others.

"D'hoffryn." Crowley said, with what was quickly becoming an annoying smirk. "So glad that you could all come out. It just wouldn't have been the same without you."

"Well it did sound like it would be interesting." D'hoffryn returned jovially. "Although I must say that this is an even more interesting turn of events than I expected." He said, as he took in the escorts of the other various Demon Lords. "Buffy Summer's, it's been a while." He greeted the figure on a bike. "Why the last time I saw you was when I was stripping Anyanaka of her powers and punishing her for a few of her indiscretions. I haven't heard much about you on the rumor mill since that whole ordeal with the First and the Hellmouth. Other than the fact that all of your friends in the Council are searching for you that is. Your little witch friend that shows so much promise has been searching all over for you. I understand she's spending a lot of time in the astral plane searching for you, and the new Slayers of course."

Buffy glared in response to the Demon Lord, but held her tongue as she looked at the others that had gathered together. Each of the Demons took a point on the crossroads and began glowing.

"This could take some time." The Source's escort said, as he watched the group in a bored manner.

"I take it you actually have some idea as to what it is that they're doing?" Buffy asked, as she looked the group of Demon Lords over curiously. It was hard to just sit still when she was surrounded by so much darkness and evil. Every fiber in her that was a Slayer was telling her to attack, the Rider was also screaming to be let out and then there were her own instincts that were telling her that she would do good by ridding the world of all of these demons. She wasn't sure how she was managing to hold her instincts back, but she figured the wrong word or action and there was a good chance that she might just fly off the handle. Something she didn't really think that any of them would be all that appreciative of.

"That I do Miss Summers." The man said. "Personally I'd rather not be doing this, but I owed the Source a favor for saving some people that were close to me, and this is one of the ways that he's insisting that I pay him back. Considering the fact that you're on a bike, that must make you the newest Rider. I thought that the current Rider was someone else though."

"Don't ask me, I've only been the Rider for the past year or so." Buffy returned to him with a shrug. "I don't really know what it is that he did before I had to fulfill my end of the deal. So, what's the what here anyways?"

"This is one of the Demon Lord Council's, these four are some of the more powerful Demon Lords of this Dimension not counting the Wolf Ram & Hart of course. There is The Source who rules one of the Underworlds."

"Yeah, we met not too long ago." Buffy returned grimly. "I don't think he likes me all that much."

"Yes, I heard about that." He said with an amused smirk. "You really hurt his credibility to protect those serve him by tearing though the Underworld like that. I just wish I had been allowed down there to see it all though." The man said his eyes lit with amusement as he recalled all the damage that had been done to the Underworld. They were still working on some of the repairs actually.

"The one in the designer suit is Crowley, he's the leader of the Crossroad Demons, one of Lilith's people from what I understand. Word is that he's one of the people that might be in line to take over command of those demons. Seems Lilith's death was foretold not too long ago. Then there's the two that you already know Mephistoles the Deal Maker and D'hoffryn the Lord of the Vengeance Demons."

"Yeah, I more than acquainted with them." Buffy admitted with disgust. "So what we're here as bodyguards or something like while they have their Demon Godfather meeting?" Buffy questioned curiously.

"That's about as close as one can get to it." The man said in agreement a smile spreading across his face. This was a true smile as well, not one of the fake smiles or smirks that most demons sent her way.

"So who are you anyways?" The blonde asked curiously.

"Cole Turner." The man said offering his hand. "These demons get together about once every 10 years or so to discuss various things. The reason we're here is because they get like this and we need to be here in case someone gets the idea to take out some of the major players in the Underworld."

"So it's our job to keep them safe then?" Buffy said with a scowl as she understood what it was that she had been called here for. The Slayer part of her would have loved to find a meeting like this and kill all of the demons that she could find. It would be a challenge she and her friends would have pounced on. Killing even one of them would have disrupted the demon hierarchy enough to give them a year or two of disorganization as various demons tried to kill each other and confirm their position as one of the top demons of the area. Because as much as she didn't like to admit it these four were of the big boy variety even if they were limited in how much they could affect things on earth.

Cole nodded his head in agreement, looking equally displeased with their duties. "Yeah, what we mainly deal with is the occasional demon trying to rise up in the ranks. We also have to deal with the various Hunters, Witches, and whatever other kind of Champions and warriors might become aware of it. There is also the chance that one of them has hired someone or other to get one of them. This is the second time I've been here, and who knows how long those two have been doing this." He added, nodding towards the giant Hellhound and the Vengeance Demon.

Buffy winced as she realized that she had been thinking along those exact same lines. The knowing look that Cole was giving her let her know that he knew where her thoughts had been going.

The pair waited as their 'masters' went through the motions of the meeting. "So, you're the infamous Buffy Summers then?" Cole asked curiously. "How is it that the Sunnydale Hellmouth Slayer of all people got into this kind of job? I mean you're such a white hat you practically need wings and a halo." He said teasingly.

"I made a deal." Buffy said with a shrug. "Instead of the shiny toys like that, I got hellfire instead." Cole nodded his head in understanding, he was a lawyer and knew all about making demonic deals. He had actually studied a number of Mephisto's original contracts to make better use of them before he became a lawyer. He had used them to help in his passing of the bar exam.

"Rider, Balthazar, enough talk here they come." The Vengeance Demon called out to them. The pair turned around to see several demons begin to crawling out of the ground or appearing out of the air. There was even some driving up in cars and trucks. All in all, she counted about fifty various creatures.

"You know, I don't think he likes us." Buffy commented as she turned to where the demon was pointing.

"Well you and your friends were somewhat responsible for the loss of two of his bosses people." Cole reminded her. Two of his supposed favorites even.

"You think he's still upset over that?" Buffy asked in amusement. "Oh yeah, evil demon, they tend to hold grudges." She said as if that explained everything.

"Looks like the foot soldiers are first." Cole said with a grin as he finally started to pay attention to the incoming demons. "Are you ready to show me what a Slayer is?"

"Please, this will be a lot like old times." Buffy said as she pulled the scythe out of its sheath on her bike. "Plus there's not a better person that can show you what a Slayer can do." She said flashing him a smile.

The first round of demons charged at them. The four guards each stood in a ready

Position as they came. Cole held his hands out, and Buffy watched as he created energy orbs and began flinging them into the crowd. The demons were doing their best to dodge the attacks, but some of them were getting through and causing the demons to erupt into balls of flames. The Hellhound moved in next lunging at the various demons it caught a large demon that looked like it was giant lizard and began ripping the throat out it then leaped for another.

Buffy turned to see the vengeance demon had a sword and was fighting two other demons. That meant that it was her job to keep the others busy. She concentrated for a moment, and a fireball appeared in her hand and she threw it at one of the incoming demons even as she vaulted in the air and landed in the midst of the others. As she rose to her feet the demons she had passed crumpled as the blade of the scythe had cut through their heads. While they weren't all dead, several of them were seriously injured. The one in front of her gaped in shock long enough for her to skewer him with the Mr. Pointy end of the scythe. Of the fifty various foot soldiers five were left and the vengeance demon was ripping the heart out of another one even as she took a look around. Leaping up she grabbed a porcupine like demon and slammed it into another while the two flailed around she and Cole each hit one of the demons with their energy balls.

"Huh, looks like there really is more to you than just a pretty face." Cole said appreciatively as he watched the demons disappear. What is that anyways, hellfire?"

"Yeah, and you got the upper level demon energy balls right?" Buffy asked curiously from the other side as she eyed the attack. The two ignored the Hellhound as it was ripping the throats out of the demons that while down weren't dead. "So what was the point of that anyways? Hardly the big time threat that you had been telling me about."

They're just scouting us out right now Rider." The Vengeance Demon spat out. "Those demons were cannon fodder, and were only supposed to let the demons get an idea as to what it is that they're dealing with. The next wave will be much harsher and dangerous now that they know who is here."

"Good, I was worried that this was going too easy for a minute." Buffy shot back with a grin causing Cole to chuckle in amusement. The vengeance demon huffed at her in annoyance, but focused on watching for more incoming forces. They all got silent as they saw a large crowd of demons begin to show up. "Uh this doesn't look like the small force that you were telling us about. Buffy noted as she stared at the guy.

"Well I happen to have a bounty on my head, and I guess the Source didn't think he needed to remove it for tonight." Cole returned as he looked at the incoming horde. "I do believe the Scourge has sent a number of their best to deal with me." He said sounding somewhat excited, proud, and disturbed to see them there. "Being one of the most powerful half-breed does have its disadvantages." He said with a grin.

"They could be here because of the Rider as well." The Vengeance Demon noted to the lawyer. "You know her reputation, it could be they finally decided to deal with her once and for all before she became even more in control of the Rider that is within her."

"Hmm, good point." Cole admitted. "There is also the fact that she's the longest living Slayer and helped create an army of supernatural warriors whose sole purpose is to destroy demons and other supernatural beings. Then there's the fact that she's considered an ally for Angelus, and there are a number that would love to embarrass him by killing his former partner. So it would seem that we're both prime targets for these guys."

"Yeah, we win yay us, we'll just have all the more demons wanting to kill us. If we lose yay them they don't have to worry about any trouble we may or may not cause". Buffy returned to him.

"Regardless, we better do something." Cole said. "It looks like we're going to have to show our real power if we want to get through this thing." He said looking somewhat nervous at the idea of showing his true form to his new colleague. In her own way she reminded him so much of Phoebe. He really didn't want to mess up the potential friendship that was forming between them.

"Hey, they're the ones that decided to throw an army at us." Buffy reminded him. This guy reminded her of Angel and Spike. He had the brooding personality at times, but he also seemed to genuinely enjoy smacking the various demons around as well.

Cole nodded he threw two more energy balls before his form wavered and changed before everyone's eyes. Instead of a relatively good looking man there was now a 7 foot, red skinned thing with tribal marking on its face.

"Balthazar." The Vengeance Demon greeted happily as it killed another attacker. "So glad that you could finally join us. I was beginning to think that your other half was going to try and take up all of your time here and allow us all to die." The Slayer and Assassin stared at the Vengeance Demon in disbelief. It seemed he was going to accept them now that they were in their supernatural forms.

Buffy held her hand out and waved the scythe around. "Guess, it's time for me to put on my party outfit." She said with a grimace.

Balthazar nodded his head in agreement, seeming to be barely even fazed as several energy balls exploded on his back.

"Back off." Buffy ordered as she swung her scythe, and a trail of flames shot out from where she swung and burned through several demons as if they weren't even there.

"Nice." Balthazar grunted in his deep voice, as he grabbed two demons by their skulls and crushed their heads with a squeeze.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." Buffy informed him with a grimace as she then focused on the flames within her. Inside of her there was a place that she was learning to connect to. A dark place that burned anything and everything that it touched.

Several beings paused as they watched flames seemed to pour out of her very pores, the skin all seemed to burn away, and soon a flaming skeleton was standing there holding the scythe. The dark cackling howl that echoed out of its mouth was enough to cause even the strongest of demons to pause for a moment as they regarded the figure that had taken the place of the Slayer.

"There it is boys." A voice said with glee. Turning the Slayer Rider turned to see several humans heading her way.

"Hunters," the Vengeance Demon noted with a sneer.

"Go have fun with them I don't think the Rider is really all that interested in them." Balthazar noted as he nodded to the Slayer Rider that was ignoring the incoming Hunters to focus on the demons. The scythe in its hand, as it began marching toward the incoming force. It swung the weapon back and forth when an energy orb came close to her and sent it flying back into the group like a tennis player. She even batted a few of them toward the incoming humans who screamed in pain as they were engulfed by the power.

"Just remember, we don't want the Rider to notice us." The Vengeance Demon warned the other members of the defense group. "That thing is a psycho, and you never know what kind of reaction that it'll have to our kind. Despite the fact that we're supposed to be on the same side, it's just as likely to turn on us as it is to work with us. I've seen those like it blow holes through demon armies before they were stopped. It usually take an elder demon of some sort to stop them once they get going. To make things worse that Rider is also a Slayer. If there's something that could find a way through your hide Balthazar, that's the thing that will get it done."

Balthazar nodded his understanding of the danger that the Slayer Rider represented to them before it began flinging energy balls at the incoming forces that were arrayed against them. Hellfire and energy orbs mixed together as they blasted through the ranks of creatures. The forces unprepared for the brutality that the pair were bringing down on them could do nothing as whose in their ranks were opened again and again. The Hellhound and the Vengeance Demon were holding the human hunters off. The Hellhound rushing through ripping and tearing through them while the Vengeance Demon teleported into amongst them and began swinging a pair of swords around until the area was clear before disappearing and doing the same thing again. There were several demons that taking potshots at the Hunters and many of the Hunters were returning fire at each other making the war into some sort of three way free for all. Someone or something was annoyed with the Elder demons that were consulting. He was taken out of his musings as Hellfire slammed into him and tossed him into the crowd.

"Oh great." The Vengeance Demon said angrily as it drove its arms through the chests of two different demons. "The Rider has lost it."

Balthazar groaned as he picked himself up and realized the vengeance demon was correct. Whatever control that the Slayer had over the Rider had appeared to have fallen away. It was now striking out at anything that it was looking at. The fact that it was fighting a demon horde hadn't helped. The Rider was now bearing down on him though because it regarded him as a target. The Rider opened its mouth and a stream of flame came flying out it then turned its head from side to side for a few moments burning all of the creatures that had gotten close with hellfire. The Rider then flung a fireball in his direction, even as it marched toward another group of demons. The powerful half demon managed to move out of the way of the attack, shocked that it would so casually attack him as if it meant nothing. He had thought that he and the Slayer had bonded on some level. Then again, he knew what could happen to those that demons possessed, and knew that they weren't always in complete control. The Rider was supposed to be some sort demon hunter and enforcer for Scratch. That meant that it wasn't as concerned for some aspects of the fight as others might be. It was content to cause mayhem and destruction, as long as its target was taken down. That was part of why it had been in the news so much because of all of the damage it was now causing. Refocusing on his own opponents, he drew a dagger and urged the demons on.

"Destroy the Slayer Rider!" One of the demons called out.

Balthazar's eyes widened as he finally understood. The Rider who had been tearing holes through the various demon communities had made enemies, and was now going to have to deal with a host of angry demons that wanted it disabled.

"Make way for the Horde!" Another voice called out and they all turned to see what looked like a Nazi demon force marching toward them. Each of them was armed with their own weapons, whether it be some form of gun or blade each of them was moving forward to deal the threat that the Slayer Rider represented. All in all there must be a 500 or more demons moving to engage the Rider.

"We have to stay away, that thing doesn't look like it wants to do anything with us." The Vengeance demon noted as it strode up beside him. The remnants of the hunters on seeing the force had decided to retreat. Those that the Vengeance Demons and Hellhound hadn't killed that is. "Besides, it's our duty to protect our Lords, not to worry about whatever problems that the Horde may have with the Rider or its host."

"Your all heart." Balthazzar rumbled back to it in return. "You do realize that after they finish the Rider off they're going to come after us though right? I mean a Vengeance Demon is a human turned demon, while I'm a half breed, and the Rider is a human empowered with the essence of a demon that's been possessed by another demon. Face it, we're all on the same list as far as they're concerned. Well except for the dog that is." He amended as he looked at the Hellhound that was currently ripping the throat of another demon.

"We have our orders." The Vengeance demon returned stubbornly.

"Fine." Balthazar returned in annoyance. He then began firing energy balls towards the Horde. He may not be able to get involved directly, but he could still do his part to help by giving some fire support.

The Rider seemed unaware of the cover fire that the demonic assassin was launching as it moved forward. The Rider struck the group like a train and then proceeded to run right through them.

Balthazar could only stare in shock at the rather one sided battle. The Rider seemingly heedless to its own safety was slashing and burning through the horde. The demons who had thought that the arrival of the militants had assured their victory could only watch in horror as the Rider tore through the crowd. This was like nothing any of them had ever seen, it was worse than some of the various war zones that many of the demons had been to. As demon after demon fell, the power of the rush seemed to fail as they began to realize that they would need more power than they currently had. This Rider was too powerful to simply beat down as it was. Still they had to try, or they could run and ruin one of their only chances at ambushing the Rider. One demon moved forward and several vines began to grow around the rider. The flames around its body flared, causing the vines that entangled it burst into flames. Turning around, the Rider turned and slammed its fist through the chest of the demon. Holding its blackened heart, the heart started to burn and Rider threw the organ at another group of incoming demons and it exploded.

"I've heard of being a heart breaker before, but that's just ridiculous." Balthazar complained. The demons finally pulled back their forces that were much smaller than when they had first started. "Think that's the last of them?" Balthazar asked curiously. The Rider ignored him though and began to march after the demons. "Think we should stop her?" He questioned idly, as he watched her launch fireballs at the fleeing demons.

He noticed that some of the remaining Hunters had regrouped and several of them had large tube like weapons. They pointed them at the Rider and soon there were several roars as various RPG weapons fired. The Rider was struck by several of the heavy weapons and those that didn't hit it peppered the ground. He noticed that some of them had even released clouds of what he presumed was salt and other various demon fighting items. Items that from what he had heard had a reduced effect against the Rider. He thought that it might have something to do with the fact that the Rider was technically still a human despite the fact that it acted as a host for one of the more powerful demons that was known to move on the Earth. When the dirt and smoke had cleared they could all see that the Rider was climbing back to its feet. The more impressive thing though was that the creature didn't even look like it had been seriously hurt. He knew that he would have just barely survived such an attack if it had been aimed at him. And that would have been if he was extremely lucky.

The Slayer Rider turned to glare at the Hunters. It launched itself into the air out of the the giant crater that the Hunters had created and then landed on a bent knee in front of the group. It raised its head and then reached out and grabbed the apparent leader of the group. _Guilty,_ It snarled and then it stared into the eyes of the man who started to scream in pain.

Balthazar whistled in awe. Hunters were not known for being the nicest of people often times being some of the worst of scum who rationalized away what they did by destroying demons. They were hard a hard breed of people though that usually skirted the law at the very best of times. Nearly each and everyone of them was driven by some sort of vengeance. Its why most Hunters specialized in one form of Hunting or other. There were those that focused on physical demons and there were those that focused on the spirits and ghosts. Each of them would occasionally branch out but for the most part they stayed with the type of creature that they had sworn revenge on for whatever reason. The fact that their methods usually ended up with them sometimes destroying lives didn't seem to matter to them at all. Still one would think that with all the lives that they did save that they wouldn't be judged by the Slayer Rider of all beings. It looked like even they weren't immune from its stare though.

The Hunter was dropped to the ground his eyes burned out as the Penance Stare had fried everything within him. The Rider then turned to look at the group and held its hands out on either side and formed a large fireball. The Hunters made a mad dash to get away and it looked like they might succeed when suddenly the fireball shot out of its hand and slammed into the scrambling figures. The Hunters now dealt with the Rider turned its focus back toward the demons that were trying to get far enough away from the Rider to be safe.

"I didn't think that she really had it in her to be that brutal." Balthazar noted.

"Look around assassin, look at what your friend did and ask that again. This is what the Rider does. It's like a mad beast that you point and hope it doesn't decide to turn around and attack us." The other demon noted.

"An interesting notion shall we test it out?" A voice asked, as a demon cancelled its invisibility. It then formed an energy orb and launched it at the Rider. The others could only stare in shock as it homed in on the rider. The demon smirked as he then shimmered away.

The energy orb struck the Rider on the back of the head, and the demon that had been moving towards the demons stopped and turned to look at the other members of the guard. It focused on Balthazar. "You." It growled darkly.

"Think she'll believe me if I say I didn't throw that thing?" Balthazar asked.

"Not likely." The Vengeance Demon said, as it moved away from the larger demon.

Balthazar shrugged, as he turned to face off with the Slayer Rider. He moved forward not about to cower from the upcoming fight. If the Rider wanted to fight with him, then he would oblige it. Forming a pair of energy orbs it fired them. The Rider returned the favor by launching a pair of fireballs of its own. The two blasts whirled by each other and struck their targets forcing each of them to take a few steps back. Other than the force of the attacks though neither of them seemed to have been injured by the blows. The two were both immune it seemed to the long range attacks that the other had. That meant that they would have to try something else. The Rider lifted its scythe up and pointed it at the former assassin. Balthazar reached into his jacket and withdrew a pair of Athame blades. While he would love to have a sword he doubted that the being before him would let him find one. It had entered the bloodlust stage that he had heard about. It was merely gathering its energy up for its next attack. That was the only reason that he had been given the time he had.

The Hellhound lunged at the Rider and the scythe came up and slashed the beast along the side. The Hellhound yelped as it fell to the ground. The smell of burnt fur and meat going all over the place. The Vengeance Demon moved to inspect the animal, but got a face full of hellfire that burned it and caused it to fall to the ground.

Some of the various demons had come back to watch the fight between the two hated hybrids. There were roars of approval as two of the guards fell to the ground. "3 virgins on the Rider." A voice called out.

"That's a sucker's bet, but I'll meet that with a soul that Balthazar last 5 minutes." Another called out. Soon several answering cries could be heard, as the demons made themselves comfy for the coming fight. While the pair were obviously more than any of the demons could handle they thought that they might win something from the duo fighting with each other.

_"Die."_ The Slayer Rider said, as it leaped forward and brought the scythe down in a one handed overhead slashing attack.

Balthazar grunted as his crossed blades stopped the weapon, but the swinging legs from the Rider caught him in the gut and sent him tumbling back. The half breed grimaced as he assessed his various injuries from the brief confrontation. That had been tough and rather informative. The Rider had forced him to use all of his strength just to block the attack, and it wasn't even her strongest one either. This was going to take some serious work if he was going to figure out how he was going to counter the effects that the creature had. It was obviously physically stronger than he was, faster, and more agile as well. It was also far more brutal than he was. He had his doubts if he would have survived charging into an army of monsters like The Rider had, yet not only had it survived that, but it had come out of relatively intact. He could only hope that the host was holding it back, or this would be a really short fight.

Moving in, the two moved things to a physical level. The Rider proved its superiority yet again though, as it caught his incoming punch, and then with a twist flipped him onto his back. He swiped with his hand, and the demon possessed Champion lifted its leg and allowed his fist to fly under its foot. The foot came down and on his arm, and the large hybrid yelled in pain as the arm was broken. Using its other hand it created an energy orb, and tossed it at the Rider's face. The Rider screamed as the blast knocked its head upwards. Balthazar rolled away from the temporarily blinded creature and climbed to his feet. He threw one of his athame, and watched as the blade hit the Slayer Rider in the shoulder.

The Rider screamed in anger as its body jerked from the blade. Reaching over, it jerked the blade out of its shoulder. Balthazar saw that the blade was already red hot and was actually dripping from the heat that its body created. The enchanted blade was actually melting. The Rider tossed the useless blade to the side and moved in."Guilty. It growled, as it grabbed him and lifted him over its head. It dropped the scythe on the ground and began beating on him.

Bone hands that were now as sharp as claws slashed across his chest and diamond hard knuckles slammed into his face. The worst part was that despite the fact he was only a couple of inches off the ground there was nothing that he could do against the creature that was holding him captive. After a bit of this he was dropped to the ground where he lay for a moment gasping for breath and just enjoying the lack of blows for a moment. His peace was destroyed though as a kick broke one leg. He was then lifted and tossed to the side grunting as he landed on the blade of a fallen sword which scratched him. The throw also jarred his other leg. The Rider marched up to him and picked him up he winced as he was forced to his feet only to grunt as a knee to his side broke half the ribs on his right side. Not seeming content with that the Rider then spewed flames at him burning his body. It finally let Balthazar fall to the ground and he thought that maybe it was content with the damage it had done. The Rider raised its hand and its abondned weapon appeared in its hand in a flash of fire. Twirling the weapon it then slammed the pointed end into his stomach. The weapon glowed for a moment as it was stuck inside of him.

Balthazar gasped as he felt the heat that the weapon was generating. His insides were now being cooked to match his outsides.

Balthazar had been destroyed, he knew that even if the Rider let him live that his demon would never again inspire the fear that it once had. A backhand caused his eye to blister and close.

The Slayer Rider seemed to have finished destroying him as it jerked the weapon out of him and held it up high and roared as if proclaiming its victory. It then shifted the weapon to both hands ready to start slicing him apart. The blade twirled looking like a flaming pinwheel and then it came rushing toward him.

"Rider stop." A voice barked causing the weapon to pause only an inch away from Balthazar's face.

Had he not already been burned he was sure that he would have felt the intensity of the heat that the scythe was giving off. As it was, he was merely to damaged and hurt all over to care how close the weapon was to him. He briefly thought of Phoebe, her sisters, and even Leo. He wondered if this was it for him.

"That's Enough." Mephisto ordered as he looked at the beaten form of Balthazar. His eyes then strayed to take in the fallen forms of the rest of the guards. He looked at the other Demons Lords a bit mockingly. "I guess we really should have expected something like this. Neither of them are really known for playing well with others. It also confirms that my Rider is the best there is." He said, as he looked back at the burnt remains of the Vengeance demon and the beaten form of Balthazar.

"Got to admit your contracted help has some real style." Crowley said unhappily as he knelt beside his dog to examine the damage done to it. "So its agreed then, I manage to get Lilith out of the way, and you'll support my bid to become the new king of hell? So long as I keep any other demons under my command out of your way."

"As we have agreed to Crowley." Mephisto returned as he held up a contract. "You always were one of my best students." He complimented, as he caused the form to vanish in a flash of fire. "You survive the Judean Apocalypse, you get to be the King of Hell.

"A pleasure to do business with you lot then." Crowley returned. "Could you tell your help to lay off my dog next time though? I'm somewhat partial to this one." He turned to walk away before pausing and turning to look at Mephisto. "Do you do any subcontracting work, or rather do you accept subcontracts in the name of your Rider?"

"I do." Mephisto returned. "I take it you have another deal you'd like to make?"

Crowley looked smug upon hearing that. "Great, I've got this annoying little man that's making me look bad, and I thought that they could nip it in the bud easily enough. I need someone to take care of an Immortal for me. None of my Hellhounds have been able to take him down, and I need some extra muscle to do the job."

"An immortal you say?"

"Yeah, the bugger bartered 5 years for a sword that would hurt immortals. Turns out it also effects hellhounds and demons as well though." Crowley grumbled in annoyance. "Thing is this particular annoyance also knows all of the Hunter tricks for containing or blocking supernatural beasties. It's making collecting what I'm due to be something of a problem if you know what I mean. I'm thinking that your Rider there might be just the thing to deal with him in a more permanent fashion if you catch my drift. It'll also leave a message to those that try to get out of a deal with me."

"A sword that effects immortals and demons should be a decent test." Mephisto said with interest. "Very well, I shall accept your offer and loan you the services of the Rider. It might even be interesting in other ways as well." The Demon Lord said thoughtfully as he considered what it might mean for the slayer to perform this particular task.

"Rider." Mephisto said, turning to look at his servant. "Crowley here has needs of your services. Go with him, he shall explain everything that you shall need."

"Right." Crowley said as he pulled a picture out of his pocket showing a man. "This is your target. He made a deal with me and is now trying to wiggle out of it. I'm not particularly fond of welchers myself, so I want you to and retrieve the idiot that thought he could get out of his deal." Crowley ordered. "I take it that she can find her way after him now that she knows who she's after?" The demon questioned Mephisto curiously.

"You have a taste of the immortal's soul, all you need to do is let her feel it and there won't be anywhere that the soul will be able to run to that my Rider won't be able to find it."

"Right then, let's get this started then shall we?" Crowley said, as he took a deep breath as he recalled the person that had tried to get out of the deal. He personally would have preferred to have the Rider in her Slayer form to do this, but he could pull this off as well. He kissed the Rider on where its lips would be, and let it taste the essence of the Immortal that had tried to get out of its agreements.

"Anything else?" He asked Mephisto curiously.

"That will be all." Mephisto returned.

"Fine then, I'll let you get to it." Crowley said as he disappeared with his hellhound.

"I must say that you really do have skill as a foot soldier." D'hoffryn noted as he examined all of the damage that the Slayer Rider had managed to perform on the highway. There were areas that were still burning with hellfire, and the corpses of all the various demons and their weapons were scattered all over the place. "I never would have thought that you of all people would be able to cause all this damage. Then there's what you did to Balthazar." He said as he turned to examine the former prize of the Source's demon forces with an appreciative look. "While not as good as your friend's work it's not bad either." He complimented. "Makes me wonder what you would have done had you and the Rider had been of the same mind in destroying him." D'hoffryn shrugged uncaringly at the condition that the demon was in. "Tell you what, after you've filled out your time with Mephistololes as his Rider I'll make you the Vengeance Demon for Wronged Warriors if you're interested. Be nice if you could bring your redheaded friend along as well." He suggested. "It was fun seeing you, but it looks like I have to find someone new to take his place now. You actually melted his necklace." He admonished her. "We will likely meet again." He said tipping his head at her before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The Source and Rider glared at each other for a moment before it to left. Leaving its guard behind to the mercies of the beings that were still there.

As soon as the Source was gone Balthazar's form wavered as he returned to his human form. A moment later he shimmered away. He knew of a few cemeteries and crypts that he could stop at on his way back to San Francisco. Hopefully that would mess his trail up enough so that he could get back and hopefully get some healing done.

"Balthazar is escaping, I want that bounty!" A demon said and about half of the demons all shimmered away as they tried to trace his signature. None of them willing to give up on the reward that was promised to whoever it was that managed to bring the Source his head. Some of the demons that remained looked at the Rider speculatively as if trying to figure what their chances were in going up against it. A few moments later they began falling back as they realized that it wasn't worth the trouble that it would cause.


	13. San Antonio I

Another chapter and hey this time it didn't take me nearly a year to come out with this time. I claim no ownership in this chapter for the BTVS, Supernatural, Walker Texas Ranger. or Highlander characters used in this chapter.

Well folks after this mission is complete we'll have reached about the halfway point in this tale.

* * *

Buffy had ridden for the whole night in her Rider form before she finally returned to her human form. The change was becoming easier and easier on her body the more times that she did it. She also noticed that she was able to hold the change during daylight hours longer and longer as well. At this rate she might actually be able to control the change for several hours during the daytime. Having her powers at that level would have been real useful when she first started doing this. She thought briefly back to when she had been stuck fighting demons in the dark while waiting for the sun to set. Since then she had learned how to connect with her powers and could do things like throw balls of hellfire around and even encase the scythe in hellfire to give it an even bigger bang. She had also noticed that some of her demon sensing abilities had started to become more powerful. Nothing like Willow's abilities to detect magic or anything, but she could tap into her inner Jedi a whole lot easier than she used to be able to. Her senses were at a level that made everything else she had ever done seem pathetic and pitiful.

She shook her head of that as she looked at the demon that had appeared in the middle of the road. She came to a stop and nodded toward the demon. Crowley she greeted him stiffly.

"Pleasure to see ya luv." Crowley returned, nodding his head as if he was tipping a hat at her.

"Cut the crap Crowley, we both know that there's someone that you want me to deal with and your usual methods didn't work." Buffy returned to him coolly. "Considering that you work for someone else, I'm going to guess you'd rather this would be kept quiet. So unless you don't want me finding the nearest demon bar and talking about this job I suggest you get on with it instead of trying to play the charming salesman." The Slayer Rider shot back curtly.

"That does take some of the fun out of doing business though doesn't it?" Crowley questioned curiously with mock concern.

Buffy merely stared at him exasperated at the smug attitude that the demon was giving her. "Look, you may be the big Kahuna when it comes to all of the Cross Roads Demons that have to follow after you, but I'm not only the Rider I'm also the Slayer." She reminded the Demon Lord in front of her. "Which means that either way you look at it I do some major ass kicking of guys like you all the time. If I want to deal with some over confident wannabe like you I'll go and find some way to bring Spike back. He's better at it, has nicer accent, and pulls the whole Big Bad vibe off better than you can." She smirked at the demon as she stared him straight in the eyes. "And that's when he's got a soul."

Crowley scowled at the Slayer, but he did stiffen up as he became more businesslike. "Fine, business it is." He returned to the warrior darkly. "You still got that picture that I gave you?" Buffy nodded as she drew the picture of a man out. "Good, well this bloke made a deal with me to get a sword that would hurt immortals no matter where they were hurt only thing is it also hurts other supernatural beings as well. The annoyance has gone and killed more demons and hellhounds than most mortals ever hear about. Before he was a pain, but a pain that I could stand. He's even helped me out a few times by dealing with some of my competition who thought to show me up by collecting his soul and delivering it to hell for me. He usually sent them back in lots of different pieces. That being said though the time of our work agreement has come to an end and I need someone to go and collect his soul up for me now."

"You played them all." Buffy declared as understanding crossed her face. "You set him up as the thing to deal with to knock you down a couple of pegs, but you made sure that anything that went after him would find itself on the wrong end of a blade that could hurt them."

Crowley looked somewhat smug at that. "That I did luv, that I did." He returned to her cockily. "It also saved me some work by having him off them anyways."

"Only problem is, if you want to go any farther up you can't take your little puppet with you. For you to keep on rising to the top you have to make sure that your little puppet has to go." Buffy theorized.

"Ah good, then you do understand." Crowley noted cheerfully. "It's nice to be able to talk business with someone that can appreciate the inner workings that deals like the one I've got here."

"You're probably also worried about what will happen when your buddy finds out that you're coming at him for real as well." Buffy spoke as she looked the demon over. "Kind of Frankenstein like really. Or is Demon-stein?" The blonde shrugged at that bit, uncaring of the correct definition it was. "It fits with you though, your more the administrative type demon than the seek and destroy kind. Your also smart enough to know that while you could take this guy, he might get lucky, particularly if you've made a habit of sending idiots or hellhounds after him and he's got the needed supplies to fight all of them. He might even be hoping that you'll eventually show up."

Crowley didn't look all that pleased to hear how much that she truly understood of what was going on. "I thought you were supposed to be a bit slow." He returned to her suspiciously.

"Yeah amazing what a few months on my own without life and death fights every night has done for me." Buffy returned to him. "You didn't really think I managed to beat people like the Adam through sheer luck now did you? Now how does this overpriced kitchen knife work anyways?"

The Crossroads Demon scowled at her in return. "The blade taps into the energy of anything supernatural." Crowley explained. "It then turns that power back on the demon by adding power to the sword. A Morha demon would probably be alright against the sword, but they're extremely rare. There was a rumor about one in LA a year or two ago though."

"There was, and it's dead." Buffy returned neutrally. "I was there when it get destroyed."

"Shame that, they're right useful in these kinds of situations."

"Anyways, this thing taps into your energy and can also absorb any energies being thrown at them. What? It was meant to deal with Immortals." The demon declared defensively as it saw the incredulous look he was receiving.

"Right." Buffy uttered in a disbelievingly tone. "Just how drunk were you when you gave some random guy this super sword thing anyways? I mean a sword that can do all that and you just handed it over to some random guy because he asked for it?"

Crowley shrugged his shoulders unrepentantly. "He made a trade, and considering all the pro bono work I've gotten off of him it's been a rather useful deal."

Buffy shook her head and felt like face palming, but wasn't about to let the demon see that he was getting to her. She was really tempted to reach over and drag his spine out though. She figured if she could keep the Rider under control, then they might not have to worry about two people using that power throughout the city. That meant that she was only going to have the power of the Slayer to work with though and she wasn't going to be able to use some of the tricks she had been learning to use. It was going to be a test of her control for her to pull this trick off. She was lucky that the whole Rider thing was something relatively new. It was different with the Slayer though. The Rider was a separate entity that took all of her mental strength to control, the Slayer though was a part of her was something that was a part of her very being. Sure the prophecies and destiny parts sucked majorly a lot of the times but there was also the things she gained from her power. The Rider had a long way to go before it became an extension of her like the Slayer was.

Buffy would be one of the first to admit that the Rider was changing her. Influencing her to play biker girl was one. If it had been Faith, no one would have been surprised, but with her it was more than just a little bit surprising. There was also the fact that her view of the world was more black and white than it used to be, and she was less forgiving. She was so much harder than she used to be. How much of that was the Rider and how much that was her last few months on the Hellmouth she wasn't sure. Each time that she used the power of the Rider it seemed like it got just a little bit easier for her. She had even begun to rely on its power somewhat. If she was to face off against this guy, then there wouldn't be the Rider to help her though. It would be her and the Slayer. Maybe she could show them all what a Slayer really could do.

She shook her head of her inner musings and focused on Crowley. "You mentioned an Immortal?" She demanded, hoping he hadn't noticed her lapse of thought.

"Yes, he's part of a special breed of Immortal." Crowley informed her. "For the most part they're human, a bit stronger and faster than your typical mortal, but nothing on even a vampire. They're all connected somehow to some greater cosmic battle of balance amongst themselves. The winner gets some unknown and secretive prize if they win."

"And how do you win?" Buffy asked with interest.

"If you follow their rules then you have to do this whole killing each other thing. The only way to do that though is by cutting off their heads. They all carry swords around in case they ever come across another f their kind. They usually have battles amongst each other every ten or so years called Gatherings. You have to be careful about killing this lot though because it releases their power. Usually in the form of an electrical storm. As you're not one of their kind though all it'll do to you is give you a bad hair day though."

"So where is this guy?"

"Texas," Crowley returned to her, "you'll find him in San Antonio."

Buffy cringed at hearing that. She had slowly but surely been working her way eastward. Using it as a graph to show how many jobs she had done as the Rider, and as a way to show how far she had to go until she was free of having to do his work. This was like a painful reminder that she wasn't going to slip free until he said so. "How good is this guy anyways?" She questioned.

"He's really good at what he does." Crowley admitted grudgingly. "Then again he has to be considering all the stuff that I've sent after him over the years. He's around 300 years old."

"You've been letting this guy and his deal hang around that long?" Buffy asked in surprise at what the Crossroads demon was telling her. She couldn't decide if she was disgusted or impressed with his methods and the fact that he had managed to keep the game going for this long was even more amazing.

"I like to think of it as my way of thinning out the competition." Crowley returned to her snootily. "Look luv, there's signs that the apocalypse is on its way. I want to make sure that I get in line for the best options. If that means I need to cut loose a few undesirables then that's alright. It's going to take more than some idiot with an overgrown pig sticker to stop me from rising to power." He told her confidently.

"Yeah, yeah, and when you're the Big Bad you'll show all the other demons that looked down on you in demon high school." Buffy shot back at him unimpressed. She had heard these types of speeches before. Heck she had been forced to stop Willow from going into these kinds of rants. "What else can you tell me about the target?"

"He's a Hunter, one of the best of the demon hunters, he was also at the battle of the Alamo." Crowley returned with a shrug. "He's not a big fan of the Mexican Government from that little experience I understand."

Buffy nodded as she ignored the sarcasm as she tried to remember what she could from her U.S History classes on that subject. It hadn't been exactly a small thing except to a demon or immortal being.

"Tell you what Rider, being the nice guy that I am I'll give you a few days to enjoy the place before I send you out searching for him for real." Crowley offered. "Then when the time comes I'll send some of my Hounds to escort you to your target. Here's a file on anything else that you might want to know about your boy." He added in, as he offered her a file that hadn't been there a moment ago. "It'll explain anything else you might need to know, and tell you all about the target and everything related to him."

Buffy nodded her head in acceptance of his offer as she took the offered information. She got to spend some time doing the touristy thing like the River Walk, Fiesta Texas Six Flags, and some of the other fun things to do around the city. It would make things a bit more fun.  
~~~~~~~~~~~

The blonde slayer had been enjoying her stay but, the thought that her target was out there was eating away at her. The Rider didn't like that they were having to wait until the Crossroads Demon decided that it was okay to hunt. The wait was making it harder and harder for her to control the impatient Rider. While the Slayer was the Hunter, the Rider was a force of nature and didn't obey orders very well. Not even orders from Demon Lords, and definitely not from wannabe demon lords. She had decided to do a little bit of old fashioned research to see if maybe she could find out where her target was. Which was why she was currently in a bar poring over maps of San Antonio and the surrounding area searching for any clues as to where this immortal might be. From the file Crowley had given her, it seemed that Holy Ground was their safe place from each other. It was but one of the many rules that these particular immortals used. One on One fights, No guns, No fighting on Holy Ground. And of course the one major rule: **"There can only be one."** A lot of rules that made figuring out where an immortal that didn't play an active part in the game was likely to be. Something like him was likely to stay near Holy Ground and weapons. The fact that it left him plenty of time to research every grave and exorcise any and all spirits in the area was a plus. The bad part to that though was that there were a half a dozen old Spanish missions in the area, and that was without counting the Alamo and several of the more modern Holy Ground areas.

She was distracted from her search through old papers and maps when the door to the bar opened and something pinged on her Slaydar. It wasn't a demon or even a witch, but it was something. Something similar to the Crow, just nowhere near as powerful. Several people seemed to know this was serious though, as they turned to see who had invaded the bar. If there was someone who obviously didn't belong it was this guy. Of course a year or two ago she would have stuck out even worse than this guy, so she didn't have a lot of room to talk. He was wearing a cowboy hat with matching shirt, boots, and jeans. He had somewhat scruffy looking hair and a well-trimmed beard. There was a strange type of badge pinned to his shirt and a gun strapped to his side. The man walked with the self-assuredness of a warrior and predator as he moved through the biker bar.

The man paused in front of a group of men that were all working on beers and doing their best to act like they hadn't noticed the man enter. "I'm Cordell Walker and I'm a Texas Ranger." He explained to the room in a soft voice that carried all over the room. "I'm here looking for some men who are suspected of running guns and smuggling people across the border." He held out several pictures and placed them on the table. "Why don't you boys take a good look at these guys and see if you recognize them." he suggested to the group.

One man that had been busy draining his glass shrugged at the man as he set his mug down. "Sorry Ranger, don't recognize him." The man stated, without even bothering to so much as glance at the pictures.

"Really?" Walker questioned in disbelief. "It might help if you actually looked at the pictures." He pointed out to the biker. "I also have trouble believing that you don't know someone that's supposed to be a member of your club." He added in.

"Our club is a big one, you can't expect us to know all of its members now can you Walker? I mean do you know all of the names of the cops where you work?" The man asked with a smirk, as he continued to studiously ignore looking at the pictures.

"Well, why don't you all have another look then?" Walker requested, as he held the pictures up again.

"Like I said Ranger, I don't know him." The man returned blandly. "Now you know your kind aren't liked in places like this Ranger, so why don't you get going before something happens to you."

"I'm thinking that it might help if I hung around for a while and asked a few more people questions." Walker returned to the man. "Tell you what though, you guys can keep those pictures in case you go through your roster and want to see if those guys are really part of your club." He then turned to the bartender. "You wouldn't happen to know these men?" He asked, seemingly ignoring the group.

"Walker we tried to be polite, but now we're saying it get lost." The spokesman ordered in annoyance his voice carrying across the now nearly silent bar as everyone was now watching the confrontation between the pair expectantly. It was obvious that he was unused to having people ignore his orders. "If you need help, my boys here can show you towards the exit." He added, as a half dozen of the bikers around the room turned to look at the Ranger with dark and predatory looks.

"So you're saying you'd all like to continue the questioning downtown then?" Walker returned to the leader, looking unimpressed at the group that was now facing him.

"I'll give you points for having stones Walker, but I'm going to have to have my boys show you out now." The leader growled in annoyance, nodding to the six men that were now moving to surround the ranger in a circle.

The Ranger still had yet to even look worried as he moved to the center of the circle of goons. Everyone was silent as they waited to see how this would end now. Despite the possible troubles Buffy was actually looking forward to seeing what happened next. Her instincts were telling her that this man was more than a match for the half a dozen that had been put up against him. Her eyes moved over to a skinny dark skinned guy that was dressed in a white cowboy shirt and hat complete with a tie a gun resting in a shoulder holster. The guy didn't seem to be worried about his companion though and was actually watching the scene before him in an almost bored manner. Her eyes darted back toward where Walker was waiting for them to make a move.

"So are you guys going to do anything?" Walker questioned them.

The taunt was enough to force the group into action. A big guy that was off to the side swung a pool stick at the ranger's head. Walker spun and caught the stick, and with a twist of his ankle he spun around and slammed his forearm into the weapon snapping it in half. He tossed the broken end at one of the incoming men. He turned back to the man holding a broken stick and performed a kick that caught the man on the side of his face and sent him flying into a table which shattered under him. He side stepped a punch rom another man and caught the arm and with a tug and he had the guy flipping over his arm. A final punch to the gut had the guy curl up on himself. He turned to look at the remaining four members. A third member came up with a barstool in his hands only to receive a kick to his stomach that easily dropped him. Two men came charging at him at once and Walker ducked as they slammed into each other while they were dazed he grabbed the pair and slammed them into a wall where they dropped. That left one member of the muscle. This man instead of charging at the Ranger moved into a crouch and approached him cautiously. Walker watched the man cautiously. The man fired off a kick that Walker caught and twisted. The man moved with the counter and managed to stay on his feet. The man managed to right himself only to receive a punch to his face followed by another. Each blow sent him stumbling back. He managed to get his own punch off, but other than jerking the Ranger's head back there was no obvious effect from the blow. He tried another punch only for Walker to catch the incoming fist. With a twist he had the biker on his knees. He then brought his knee up knocking the man down. A member of the crowd ran at the Ranger expecting to catch the Ranger unawares. Walker accepted the tackle and planted his foot into the man's stomach and rolled with the blow and ended up on top and then punched the biker.

"That's enough Ranger." A voice called out. "You keep this up and I'm going to cut this girl up." The man that had ordered the fight held one of the waitresses in one arm, while a sharp knife was up against her throat. The girl whimpered but was otherwise silent.

Buffy scowled as she regarded the man that was threatening the girl. She figured this was going to be where the posturing came in, now that the guy had the Ranger stopped from beating the crap out of his men. She noticed that even as the Ranger climbed off the ground that he seemed calm and unruffled. As if despite the sudden change in things, he was still the one in control of the situation.

"Get on your feet." The man with the knife ordered to his men, who slowly climbed back up.

"Kidnapping is only making this worse." Walker pointed out to them.

"Shut it Ranger," the man ordered, "you should have known better than to try and take us on here." He noted while glaring at the man.

Buffy had, had enough as she let her feet slam to the ground causing several people to turn in her direction. "Okay, you've shown that he may not have made the smartest choice in taking his eyes off of you, but that's all you've done." Buffy snarked in annoyance. "Now thanks to what you're doing this place is likely going to get shut down since your threatening people here." She slammed the bottle that she had been drinking from on the table as she rose to her feet. Nearly everyone's eyes had been drawn to the bottle even as she drew and threw a knife at the guy. The blade thunked into the knife wielder's wrist. The man screamed and released his prisoner and his knife as he cradled his arm. "You should really have left the rest of us out of your little game." Buffy stared at the man from across the room as if daring him to make a move.

"Get her." The man shouted.

Two men peeled out of the crowd to confront the small blonde who was standing and staring at them with a smirk on her face. She felt the Rider flare for a moment before she tapped it back down. She didn't need the Rider for this.

She twisted out of the way of the first punch and stuck her leg out tripping him, and then a slayer enhanced push sent him flying with a bone rattling force into the wall. Buffy thought she saw some cracks in the wall where the guy had hit. Turning to face the other one she saw him move into a boxer's stance. When you combined that with the big rings he wore it was like fighting someone with knucklers on. He tried a few crosses that Buff was able to duck move her head out of the way of. She was used to fighting things faster and stronger than this guy could ever hope to be.

"Fight back." The guy growled angrily. "Or is all you can do is throw knives?" He demanded.

"Considering that it was your boss that started with the knives, and the only way you guys know how to fight is in groups I hardly think that your one to talk." Buffy returned to him, as she jumped back to avoid a punch aimed for her chest. Buffy hated to admit it, but this fight was boring. There was no challenge to it. She had gotten used to fighting numerous opponents at once. For her, this was like stretching now. The next time he swung at her she caught the arm and with one hand while the other slammed into his shoulder. She watched unimpressed as the man fell to the ground now that the shoulder had been knocked out of socket. She then kicked him in the leg smirking as she heard the leg break. She would have done more, but she noticed that she had an audience. Still, the guy was down and out of this fight. There wasn't anything else to worry about. She turned and noticed that the Rangers were watching her with interest. The dark skinned guy looked like he was about to say something but quickly closed his mouth.

"Uh hi." Buffy chirped, as she wiggled her fingers at them.

"Hi." Walker returned from where he was comforting the waitress.

"Sorry about doing the interrupting thing, the girl needed saving though." Buffy nervously explained.

"It's alright." Walker assured her. "I'm Ranger Walker and this here is Ranger James Trivette."

"Just call me Jimmy." The Ranger informed her with a bright smile on his face, as he did his best to ignore the moaning man at the feet of the woman.

"I'm Buffy." The blonde greeted cheerfully. "Is the damsel alright?" She questioned nodding towards the waitress.

"She'll be fine." Walker returned.

"So now what?" A curious Buffy asked of the two men warily. Her experience with the law wasn't exactly a good one and not one that she wanted add to her not fun memories.

"Now we get your statement on what just happened." Jimmy returned. "After that you'll be free to go wherever it is that you need to."

Buffy nodded as she quickly told her version of the fight, after that she headed out to do some of the scouting that she had been planning on doing. The Two Rangers doubted that the young woman would be one that they would forget to soon.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walker spent the next several hours thinking about the blonde. There was just something about her that kept drawing his attention back to her. While a part of him was curious, there was another part that was bothered as if he had known that he had been dealing with something dangerous. He hadn't felt chills like that since his days in the war. Heck, a part of him was almost sure that the chills she had given him were worse than his war chills. Not able to rest his suspicions he had Trivette work with his computer to search for anything while he searched through case files to find out what he could about her. There was something off about her, and he was determined to find out what it was.

From what they had managed to gather the only crimes that they might be able to pin on her was her possession of a Sunnydale California License. According to some of their records Buffy Summers was dead due to a possible suicide, but there was also papers that showed her as the primary guardian for her sister a few months later as well as documentation that she had worked at least briefly for the school. Either the real Buffy Summers was dead, or someone had made a major mistake in the records in Sunnydale. It could also be she was a long term user of a fake Sunnydale ID as well. Sunnydale ID's had become a favorite for forgers in the last year thanks to the town collapsing and many of the people still being found. He really doubted that's what had set him on edge though.

"Come on partner." Trivette wearily told his partner clapping him on the shoulder. "It's been a long day, and this isn't exactly our jurisdiction." He reminded the man. "There may be something off about that girl. Knowing that your suspicious is enough to make me suspicious, but we can't bring her in for questioning just on your instincts either." He reminded him.

"I know." Walker admitted to the man grudgingly. "There's just something about her that's got me suspicious is all." He explained to the man. He himself wasn't certain what had him on edge about the blonde.

"Well maybe a beer will take your mind off of these things." Trivette suggested with a grin. "While it won't be C.D's, I'm sure we can also find some decent chili to."

The two Rangers soon found themselves at a Mexican restaurant/bar. While they were drinking Walker noticed an old man sidled up alongside of them. "Iron Tree." Walker greeted the old man embracing him in a brotherly hug. "It's been to long my friend."

"That it has Washo, that it has." The man returned with a grin.

Walker smiled as he turned to his partner. "Trivette, meet Hosea Iron Tree Garcia, a fellow half breed." He explained. "He's part Hispanic and part Cherokee. Iron Tree here taught me that to be true to myself I had to respect the heritage of not just my father, but also of my mother. All heritage is important and helps form a person."

Iron Tree smiled grimly at the younger man as Walker ordered him a beer. "Washo, I bring word to you from the Wise Men." He explained as he accepted his beer. "The Spirits have told them that the Heir to the Legacy that Carter Slade is a part of now wanders in this city on a mission."

Walker looked grim at the information that he had just been given.

"Carter Slade?" Trivette questioned the pair. "Walker why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Long time ago Carter Slade was one of the Legendary Texas Rangers." Walker explained to his friend. "The man was a shining beacon of what Texas Rangers were supposed to be. Unfortunately Carter got lost somewhere along the way, and his greed took him over. He was arrested and sentenced to death for his crimes by hanging."

"Oh." Trivette returned, unsure what to say about that. The idea that a fellow Ranger had that happen to them was somewhat uncomfortable.

"According to legend, he made a deal with a demon that granted him power that could have burned through the plains. He became the Rider of the Devil, and because of him over a thousand people died in one night." Walker told him. "At least so the legend says."

"It is a tale that has been passed down for many years." Iron Tree agreed. "Now the power of the Rider has returned to this part of the country. From what I can tell it was in Austin a year or two or go, then it moved on to California, before moving towards the Canadian border, before it vanished, and now it is here according to the Elders. Washo knows what will happen if the Rider is freed here of all places, what's even worse though, is that the Hunter could be taken from us. While the Hunter has not always been a good ally, he is still an ally, and one that is useful when battling against the spirit world. Even if lately he no longer makes peace when we come calling."

"The Hunter?" Trivette questioned curiously. "I'm guessing that's another story from somewhere?" He asked in an almost dejected yet knowing manner.

"Sort of." Walker admitted. "The Hunter is an ancient being that has been around the Earth for many lifetimes of man. He's supposed to be the guardian of this area, and keep the angry spirits at bay."

"Supposed to?"

"Well according to the shaman's and wise men in the last fifty to sixty years the Hunter no longer keeps to his vow to protect these lands as he once did. That he no longer acts as a protector for these lands and lets evil spirits do as they please." Walker informed his partner.

"But its just a story right?" Trivette questioned them worriedly. "I mean it's not like you believe that there's really some ancient being that battles evil spirits and has recently decided to forget about everyone now right?" He asked the pair desperately. Personally he didn't believe in things like spirits and ghosts, but he had been around Walker long enough to know that the unexplainable often happened around him. So a healthy dose of willingness to believe was useful in their partnership.

"No one knows for sure one way or the other." Walker returned evasively.

"So we have to find some historical Ranger who may or may not be after some mythical Hunter then?" Trivette summarized before beating his head against the bar. "Why can't things ever be simple when you go all Cherokee on me?" He complained.

"Just lucky I guess." Walker returned, as he clapped his partner on the back. "Come on, lets go." He ordered as he offered the man a hand up.

"Go where?"

"To where all of the angry spirits might be. I can't think of a better place to start than the Alamo. It was built as a mission first, and then used as a fortress. I can't imagine a better place to start looking for someone that hunts angry spirits then there."

"Find Carter Slade's Legacy Washo." Iron Tree requested. "The elders would speak with them and try to turn them from this path if they can."

"We'll see what we can do." Walker assured his friend. "If there was some way that we could identify them though it would make it easier."

Iron Tree nodded his understanding. "I was told to tell you this by Gray Wolf. To find the Legacy of Carter Slade seek out the blonde Rider, the former Gateway Guardian. He said that you would know this person when you saw them. He also requested that you bring them to him first for this information."

Walker narrowed his eyes slightly at this bit of information, but nodded his understanding. "Inform the Elders we will do all that we can." He assured the older man. The man nodded his thanks and walked away to give his report.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy sighed as she did a mental checklist of some of the things that she had done while in San Antonio. She had spent some time getting to do the various attractions around town and even gotten to go to Six Flags. She couldn't even remember the last time she had gotten to do something so fun. She was currently scouting out the Alamo. Even if her target wasn't here, it would give her something of an idea about the guy. As she walked through the bunkhouse building she could feel the echo of the souls that had died here. Only these weren't the angry vengeful type of spirits or echoes. No these souls were content, as if they had known what they were doing and why. There were a few bad eggs, but for the most part they were content. They had all paid the price somewhat willingly it seemed, they had fallen for what they believed in.

She chuckled a bit as she saw a quote from Crockett "You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas." San Antonio wasn't that bad as far as she was concerned. In fact it was actually kind of comfy she could understand why the Rider used to operate mainly in Texas. Then again she could turn herself into a fire elemental. So it was kind of cheating.

She had bought a few odds and ends for Dawn and the others to let them know she was thinking of them. She knew her gifts were frustrating for the group, since she usually sent them through the Haliwell sisters or someone else that she had met along the way. That was if she didn't just mail them on her way out of town. Sure it was kind of petty tricking the group into converging on wherever it was that she sent stuff from, but was also kind of fun to. She figured she had earned the right to do so after all the years that she had been the Slayer. She only wished she could have picked Jarod's brain some on better ways to create mailing points and whatnot for people to find. From what she knew of him it sounded like he was pretty skilled at it. She had heard rumors of the kind hearted Jarod the more she traveled the road. Sometimes she wouldn't hear anything for days then there would be the rumor of a Jarod doing something odd like spending days inside a boxcar, or there would be a be some piece of news that had his particular brand of crazy with it. Yeah, if anyone would know how to drive her old team crazy with nonsense clues it would be him. If she ever met him again she would have to ask him for pointers on that sort of thing. Still this way was working good, as even Willow Rosenburg in full hacker mode could only figure out so much when trying to plot her course when she was having to back track her after several days of snail mail.

She was looking at a display case that held Old Betsy from the Davy Crockett show from way back when. The gun had been gifted to the Alamo by the actor himself it seemed. She looked up and was surprised to see the Texas Rangers from yesterday approaching her. She could feel the slight supernatural buzz that Walker gave off.

"Miss. Summers." Walker greeted her.

"Um hi." Buffy returned nervously wondering if they had changed their minds on whether or not they were going to charge her. Her bad experience with the law left her unsure what to expect from these guys. The fact that she had been shot at by lawmen didn't make her feel any better either. Something that increased a lot since she had become the Rider. Every time she had a job it seemed like the police starting popping shots off at her. Sure she new the Rider didn't do subtle but it was weird remembering getting shot at like that. She really wished people would quit trying to make a Swiss Cheese Buffy. Besides she just knew that if the others heard about it there would be some sort of holy or saint Buffy jokes from Xander and Faith. The only good thing about Dark Willow had been the fact that she had healed al of her damage leaving no scar. There was also the chance of running into the same man on opposite ends of town. She didn't believe in coincidences or leprechauns for a reason. "Did you need something Ranger Walker?" She finally questioned him.

"I'm looking for someone, and I think that you might be that person." Walker explained to the woman. "I'm looking for the blonde Rider that was the former Guardian of the Gateway." He explained to her watching her carefully.

Buffy flinched at the title that was spoken. "Gateway Guardian huh? That hasn't been me for a while. Then again I made sure that it is never just one person anymore."

"Which is why he probably told me you were the former one." Walker returned, glad to see that the woman hadn't denied her role. He was also glad to see that he had been right that there was more to this woman than was apparently obvious.

"So why did you think that I was your person? There are plenty of other bikers here." Buffy noted nodding towards the various veterans that were wandering around the place.

"That may be, but there aren't that many blonde ones." Walker pointed out.

Buffy nodded her head in agreement at that as she realized that there really weren't that many blonde riders around. Shaggy gray and white haired ones yes, but there wasn't more than one or two other blondes dressed in biker leathers out here. "Okay, point to you." She conceded. "Now what?"

"Now we get going, there's someone that wants to meet with you." Walker explained to her.

Buffy rolled her eyes at that. "If I had known I wasn't going to be here that long I wouldn't have paid the parking fee." She grumbled. "You owe me for the parking fee." She told them.

"Trivette here will pay it." Walker assured the girl.

"What, why me?" Trivette asked, even as he reached for his wallet.

"Because you're the one who's always losing my money in your get rich quick schemes". Walker returned to him, even as his friend handed the blonde the money to cover the amount she had spent. Jimmy scowled but didn't say anything much to the amusement of the Slayer.

The three exited the Alamo and walked down the street passing Ripley's and the Texas Ranger Museum. The men showed her to where their truck was waiting. Buffy noted that her bike wasn't too far from where the truck was. She quickly jogged passed and got on her ride. The Rangers nodded and took off leading her along a winding road to a bar that was a bit off the main roads. They got out and Buffy followed the Rangers inside to a table where two men were already sitting down and waiting.

"Buffy Summers, meet Iron Tree and Shaman Gray Wolf." Walker introduced, as he took one of the chairs. "Gray Wolf is one of the local shamans in the area."

Buffy nodded, remembering her own spirit walk from not too long ago.

"Washo." Gray Wolf greeted in an old yet strong voice. His eyes never straying from the small girl that had entered alongside of the Ranger.

Buffy flashed a smile at the old Indian in greeting. "So you're the guy that went and messed up my secret identity before I had even done anything huh?" Buffy questioned curiously. "Man, and I thought being secret identity gal before was hard. At least back then it was usually because I messed up not because someone was telling everybody else." She joked, as she remembered how it seemed half the people she met knew her secret on her first day in Sunnydale.

"Indeed Warrior I did." Gray Wolf admitted without a trace of guilt in his voice or face. The old Indian was old dressed in a combination of western wear and handmade leathers with his hair down up in two graying braids. "There are those amongst the Council who would not see you succeed in your mission and would try and bind you or even stop you from collecting the bounty that you have been sent for. They are fools to think that they can dictate to a being such as the Rider for no mortal can truly command its power. Not even one such as yourself can command it."

Buffy flinched at that, not liking that the man was telling her that her control might not be as strong as she thought that it was. The implications that she could lose control were not ones she wanted to think about. She knew exactly the kind of damage that the Rider could do if it were inclined to. Then again, all she had ever really learned how to do was to call on the power, she had never actually tried to tap down on the power. Something that she was going to have to do in order for this mission to work.

"That is not why we must talk though, it is your mission here that concerns us. You have come to collect the one known as the Hunter."

"The immortal that travels around this area?" Buffy questioned carefully.

Jimmy looked surprised that this girl seemed to know what the Shaman was talking about. Even dressed in the leathers, she looked more like she was auditioning for the part of Sandra Dee than she did a serious biker. So the idea that she actually knew about these sorts of things was surprising to say the least.

"He does." Gray Wolf confirmed. "He has become maddened by his long life though. My comrades think that he still provides a service to the Land and the People. The truth is he has become as dangerous as the man killing bear. More dangerous actually as he has the intelligence of man to support him."

"An intelligent enemy is always the most dangerous kind." Buffy agreed with a frown. "Almost as bas one that is patient."

"Indeed, you understand the danger then." Gray Wolf complimented. "He must be taken out of play before he becomes any more of a danger than he already is. The world has changed, only he has no longer changed with it. He believes that we owe him, and has forsaken his duty. He also brings more of the threats himself these days than anything else. The threats are willing to destroy all that is of this land to destroy him. His time has past, even if those amongst the Council do not see it."

"Even knowing all this, why are you telling me?" Buffy asked him curiously. "I was led to believe that you preferred to handle your own problems on your own."

"It is the way that things are." Gray Wolf returned. "The land and the people suffer from the war that he brings to us. We must stop him before it becomes too much. You are the tool that the high spirits have sent to aide us in smiting down this being that brings nothing but trouble to us.

Buffy nodded, deciding not to remind this guy that in reality she worked for people that weren't normally on the same team as the Spirits he was thinking of. She then looked over at the Rangers. "Are you guys okay with what we're doing here? I mean you do realize what we're talking about right?"

"I have a suspicion." Walker admitted neutrally. "However, because of the badges we wear this is as much as we can help you in this matter. If we find you while doing your business we'll probably have to have you arrested." He warned her and the others at the table.

"Fair enough." Buffy agreed, she then turned to look at the shaman. "Tell me what you know of him."

"I tell you and you take care of the Hunter and leave with minimum amount of damage Rider that is the deal yes?" Gray Wolf questioned.

"That's the deal, I get my target and let your people protect your people from now on." Buffy agreed.

"Very well." Gray Wolf declared as he leaned forward to tell her what he knew of the one known as the Hunter. 

A group of men were sitting at a table at a restaurant on the Riverwalk watching the various people as they passed. The older looking men was gray haired with a beard and a cane sitting next to him. At his side were two men, one with long hair the other with short hair. Despite the heat each of the men was wearing a trench coat.

"Remind me again why we're here?" The short haired member of the group grumbled. He was Methos, arguably the oldest of the known race of Immortal's.

The long haired member smirked at his companion. Duncan MacLeod was one of two well-known Immortals that had been known simply as the Highlander. The fact that they were clansmen helped in that regard. "I'm here because Joe asked me to." He explained nodding to Joe Dawson one of the mysterious Watchers who chronicled the lives of Immortals as they moved through the shadows of history. "You're here because you are too cheap to pay your beer tab and thought that doing some favors for getting it reduced would be better." He reminded his companion amusedly.

Methos merely scowled at the Highlander in annoyance at the way he described their individual reasons for being here. "When you say it like that, you almost make me sound like a scoundrel." He drawled back at the man not looking the slightest bit offended though.

"Imagine that." Duncan returned in amusement. "I wonder why that might be?"

"No idea." Methos returned with a grin. "Now just why are we here anyways Joe? There's a reason I usually stick to places with a cooler climate I've spent more than my fair share of time in the desert after all." He reminded the man. Considering he had spent his early immortal years raiding in the deserts, that was something of an understatement.

"Maybe," Joe returned, "but this is where the rumors are for the immortal that I'm looking for."

"So who or what are we looking for."

"We're just checking for the rumors about a possible immortal that has been running around these parts for the last couple hundred years. Every Immortal that has traveled through this part of the country has simply disappeared. None of the Watcher's we've sent have been able to integrate themselves into the community to the level needed to see if it's anything more than rumors though." The older looking but youngest of the group explained to the two men. Duncan had been born in the late 1500's, and no one was really sure just how old Methos really was just that he was old. Many speculated two or three thousand years at the least.

"So what, we're here as you bloodhounds then?" Methos asked. All immortals could sense each other to a certain extent it was the buzz of the quickening that let them identify each other.

"Believe me, if I could have found a dog to do the job it would have been a lot easier." Joe returned to him. "I mean it would save me a lot more money than trying to deal with you." The two men smirked at each other knowingly taking any true bite out of the words that they were throwing at each other.

"So all we have to do is search the 7th most populated city in the United States for one Immortal?" Methos asked dryly. "Sounds like all sorts of fun, thanks for including me in this you two."

"You could have just paid your bar tab." Joe pointed out to him in amusement. "It would have been a lot more convenient for all of us actually." He jibed at the 'old man' of the Immortals.

"Maybe, but not nearly as much fun." Methos returned to him with a smirk of his own. "Besides, if I left the two of you to wander this city you'll likely get lost or something similar. Then I would have to come all the way out here anyways to rescue you for whatever craziness that you got yourself involved in this time."

"Glad to know that you're so willing to support us." Duncan thanked, while raising his glass in salute.

"Well what kind of friend would I be then?"

"A sober one." Joe shot back.

The two Immortals suddenly stopped laughing as they felt a familiar tingle. The pair nodded before their eyes began scanning the area for any threats.

"He's out there, isn't he?" Joe questioned eagerly.

"Aye he is." Duncan agreed with the Watcher. "He's a powerful one as well, I think that it would best if we proceeded with caution."

"So much for an easy job." Methos grumbled.


	14. San Antonio II

I claim no ownership in this chapter for the BTVS, Supernatural, Walker Texas Ranger, or Highlander characters used in this chapter.

* * *

Night had come to San Antonio and Buffy was standing on a tall building looking down into the streets below. She could see the Alamo, a handful of various churches, various hotels, and other buildings. The kind of places that she simply didnt make any promises about the exact location, he could give her a rough idea on the location of where the Immortal Hunter was going to be. She knew that the old shaman was playing a dangerous game by working with her. His people seemed to be very anti her. She looked up as a large dog like creature stepped forward. A hellhound, not Crowleym a Rider, I can sense my targets." Buffy questioned, as she looked at the large creature. While it wasns favorite it was still a lot bigger than the ones that she had killed on her prom night. Maybe those were the lap hellhound versions and these were the hunting hellhound type. Either that, or those hadnt think that old Scratch was going to give me that much leeway in the use of his Rider did ya?" He asked her mockingly. "I know that you still think like a human for the most part, but do try and keep up here and there." He requested of her arrogantly.

Buffy glared at the demon seriously tempted to just knock his head off. It would be a fairly easy thing to do as well. The demon implying that she wasn't human anymore touched a sensitive spot on her that she'd had ever since becoming the Slayer. She noticed Crowley may be a powerful demon, but he obviously didnt underestimate this target of yours either, het realize that the figure before him was considering whether or not it would be worth it to kill him and be done with him. "He's had years to train himself in the use of that sword of his. Even more than you with all your little nightly adventures managed to acquire, and that doesn't even bring in the mystical aspect of his." He warned her.

"Awe you almost sound like you care." She mocked the demon bemusedly.

"More like I'd rather not have to look for somebody else to do the job if you can't do it." Crowley shot back sourly. "Renting your skills out wasn't exactly cheap. So try not to screw it up." He ordered.

"We'll just have to see." Buffy returned to the Crossroad Demon. She turned away from him and looked down at the Hellhound. "You ready to go find Timmy, Lassie?" The Hellhound growled at the Rider in response before it leaped off the side of a building. "Later Crowley don't wait up." Buffy called out to the demon before jumping after the beast.

Crowley rolled his eyes at the defiant Slayer. This was why he actually preferred to deal with Hellhounds when it came collection time. Anyone else would just be an annoyance to him. Still he supposed that there were worst things that could be happening. Besides after this he wouldn't have to deal with her again and by the time that he decided that he needed another favor from Scratch, it was likely that there would be some new idiot that was thinking that they were capable. He might as well find go and find his seat though this promised to be a most interesting night and he could hardly wait to see just how the girl decided to confront the Immortal. It should also allow him to him to see just what it was that made some people thinks that this girl was such a special being.

Methos and Duncan had decided to come back to the River Walk at night, when there were a handful fewer mortals around the place. If this Immortal wished to fight with them they hoped that they could make it easier if they needed to vanish to conduct their business. Hopefully he wasn't going to be the violent type and they could all leave without causing problems. The pair noticed that many of the tourist appeared to have opted against coming out tonight. Considering the place no longer had the quaint atmosphere that it had once had that was a relief. There were still many of the shops open tonight making it seem as if they were merely out for a stroll. The fact that they were actually searching for an Immortal wasn't one that they were going to worry about. Normally they would leave this Immortal alone, but the fact that this one had been systematically killing anyone and anything that got close to his secret made the pair cautious. It could be he was simply an Immortal that was easily spooked into acting and wasn't some monster that they needed to deal with. It could even be that the disappearances were the result of another group that thought that they were protecting him. They had seen it all before, and there was no telling just what it was that they were walking into. As they walked they could sense the Immortal's power. It seemed that he was waiting for them. The pair had reached the walkway and paused at what they saw.

There was a man in full spanish finery in his hand was a drawn broadsword. He looked the pair over as if judging them. The two Immortals saw that the area was quickly becoming vacant, as if people could sense what was coming. The only people that didn't seem interested in leaving was a mixed group of Native Americans and Hispanics. Each group was dressed in rather simplistic clothes as they began taking positions to watch.

"I'm not so sure that I like where this is going Highlander. Methos observed, as his eyes scanned the area looking for a way to slip out. Everywhere he looked though there was someone else moving into position. Even behind them there was a crowd forming up.

"I'm beginning to think that we were expected." Duncan dryly noted, as he looked at the crowd with worry.

"Whatever might give you that idea?" Methos snapped out waspishly. "Could it be the small army that he has that's come to watch the show of him killing us?" He caustically asked his companion, while waving at the crowd that had them surrounded.

"Most likely." Duncan admitted to him, as his eyes scanned the people surrounding them hoping to find someone that would at the very least listen to them. Instead, it seemed that everyone here was rather intent on what they were doing. The men were surprised when they saw that a bound Joe was being forced through the crowd.

"So, what's the game here then?" Methos questioned the Immortal before them curiously ignoring the mortals even as Joe was pushed in with them. "Is there something you want to tell us?" He demanded of the Immortal Leader. "Because I'd hate to think that I took your head before you got the chance to gloat or whatever it is that you do." He told the figure with an annoyed air.

"Immortals." The figure growled out angrily, his hand reaching out to grasp the sword that he was wearing. "What is it with your kind that you can never just die off already? Why can't you all just be good worms and die? How many of your kind do I have to destroy before you are all gone?"

"You do realize that you're being something of a hypocrite don't you?" Methos returned to him bemusedly. "I mean seriously, what are you going to do when there are no more Immortals for you to kill anyways?"

"I will return to my solitude, and destroy the demons that roam these lands." The figure returned to them coolly. "Such is my life's mission."

"Demons?" Duncan repeated somewhat dubiously. "You actually believe in such things as demons?"

"Just because you've never run across them before doesn't mean that they don't exist." Methos chided his companion knowingly. "Like Immortals, the creatures of the Supernatural have been around longer than you would believe, and live in between worlds." He explained knowingly as he thought of all of the various creatures that he had run across in his life. He wondered what Duncan would do if he ran across some of the creatures he knew. As a former member of the Four Horsemen, he had an easier in to some places than the noble highlanders did. Places where demons made a habit of living in. He did wonder how someone as old as Duncan had never run across the real supernatural. Then again, there were those that simply ignored, or denied the true existence of the supernatural no matter how much proof that they were confronted with. He hadn't thought Duncan was such a person, but maybe he was.

"Enough talk, which of you shall be first? Which of you shall be the first to die by my blade." The Immortal demanded of them.

"Duncan, I believe that this is where you give some sort of inspirational speech about why we don't need to do this and how we should all hold hands and trade friendship bracelets, or whatever method you want to try and talk him down with. Which will be when he tries to kill you and I have to figure some crazy way to save your hide from your noble stupidity." Methos offered with a grin while waving his comrade toward the figure.

"You do know how to make this appealing." Duncan returned to the man as he stepped forward. "I don't suppose that there's anyway that you might consider not doing this?" He asked idly, even as he drew his sword out.

Duncan used a white handled katana as his weapon of choice. The weapon had served him well for many years. The Hunter on the other hand used a large black flame bladed sword that followed the basic design of the Spada de lato. The two blades looked just as different as their wielders. Savagery vs Elegance.

"It is because of your kind that I became what I did." The Immortal snarled at him angrily. "I swore many years ago that I would destroy all of your kind no matter how long it took. I made deals with beings that would make you tremble if you knew who it was that I made deals with." With that said, the man lunged forward.

Duncan intercepted the incoming blade with his own. The two blades clashed together as the pair tested the strength of the muscles and blades against each other. Lighting like energy sparked between the two of them. Duncan broke the locked blades off with a frown. This Hunter as he called himself didn't appear overly strong yet when they had connected blades he had been surprisingly strong, in fact it had almost been as if his own strength had drained from him for a moment. "You're stronger than you look." He complimented, as he tried to learn anything about the strange fighter.

"No words you say will make me change you will die creature of darkness." The man returned to him. "All of your kind will fall to my blade, and I shall be freed from this life that you and your kind have forced me on."

"Are you not an Immortal yourself?" Duncan asked him.

The curse of your darkness has made me like this." The Hunter spat back at him angrily. "Once I have found all of your kind, I will at last be free from this living and I shall have my reward of heaven." He then performed several slashing strikes at Duncan that the Highlander batted away.

They exchanged a few blows and then Duncan managed to kick the swordsman away from him. "That is not how it works though." Duncan tried to explain. "You either are an Immortal, or you are not. Their is no in-between, and nothing that can make a normal human into one of us. Its simply not the way that it works."

"You think that I can be fooled by your lies monster? I was a hunter for many years before I was cursed, I know precisely what it is that you are, and the only chance I'll ever have of reuniting with those who are gone is to destroy you all. For you monsters there will be no gathering of yourselves for whatever reason I shall destroy you just as I have destroyed all of the various creatures before you." The man lunged forward again and the pair locked blades for a moment before breaking apart and watching each other cautiously.

"I don't think he's overly interested in what it is that you have to say." Methos pointed out to his friend as he circled by him.

"I've noticed." Duncan grumbled back as he eyed the other Immortal over warily. The two fighters suddenly went at each other again. Their swords clanging against each other.

Methos frowned as he watched the duel between the two taking place. There was something off about it, he just couldn't figure what it was though. The Highlander was struggling in this fight despite the fact that this Immortal didn't look nearly as strong as he was. His frown deepened as he watched his comrade barely step out of the way of a slash, as it was it left a small slice across his chest. He couldn't remember the last time that he had seen the Highlander struggle so much against an opponent. The oddest part was that most of the moves looked like they were rather easy to counter. At least from this angle. He supposed the man might have some sort of trick working for him. Considering how Duncan was weakening it might even be a poison of some kind. Although if that was the case then he had to wonder how it was delivered. He hadn't seen anything hit the man in anyway. He supposed that it could have been when they had been surrounded, but the Highlander was usually more aware than to be caught out so easily. Not to mention that he still felt fine.

He wondered if there was something more to it though. The Hunter had seemed to be aware of the supernatural world, which could mean that he was capable of tricks that might not be so obvious at first. With a twist of the blade he managed to knock the Highlander's blade away from him. With a punch he then knocked the Highlander into a wall. The man twirled his sword a moment before turning to look at Methos and Joe. "Tonight is indeed a good night when I can destroy two of you creatures and one of historians."

"We're not done yet." Methos returned to him with a bravado he didn't really feel. He had always known that there was a chance that the Highlander would lead him to his death. He wondered briefly if there would be a way to escape the sword waving maniac while he was busy with the others.

They were interrupted as a large howl echoed through the area. It caused everyone to pause and turn in time to see a figure that was standing on the railing overhead. The person was female, short, blonde, dressed in biker leathers, and seemingly unimpressed by everything that was going on below her. "Okay, I really think that amateur hour is over and that its my turn now." The blonde noted lightly.

The Hunter didn't say anything, but he did reach into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and slip them on over his face. "Its not often that I see someone, or should say something that has a Hell Hound for a tracking dog." He noted with a smirk, as he focused on something off to the side.

The figure scowled slightly at the nonhuman comment. She took a deep breath and managed to get control of herself. "So did the spy glasses come in a box of cracker jack's?" She asked teasingly as she looked them over. She then turned to her side and looked down at a blank space. "Its not quiet a well Lassie, but I suppose that it'll have to do." She spoke to something that it seemed only she and the Hunter could see.

"Who are you?" The Hunter demanded of her. "You are not like any that I have seen before. Has Crowley decided to send a new type to the slaughter? Does he think that you can do what all those before you have not been able to do and collect the bounty on me?"

"What all of your friends in the tribes didn't tell you that the Rider was looking for you?" The girl asked curiously, as she looked down on the man. Her eyes darted over to look at the various people that had come to see the fight. "Huh, and to think that my sources told me that you were their favorite weapon or something like that. Then again some people aren't always all that good about working with their weapon." She added in knowingly.

The figure scowled and turned to glare at some of the people. "You knew that the Rider was here and didn't think to tell me?" He demanded of them angrily.

The various Indians looked annoyed by the presence of the Rider. "We were going to tell you, only you told us about the Immortals first, we know that the Immortals are your personal vice when it comes to hunting the darkness. Had we told you I doubt that you would have given much thought to it." One of the men explained to him gruffly. "We also thought that we had more time to prepare for it."

"The Rider coming after you is never anything to ignore." The Immortal returned to the mortal in annoyance. "The Rider is worse than all the Hellhounds in the world. Some say it is a force of nature that none can stop, and can rip the bonds between life and death itself." He turned his back on the Chief to look at the blonde. "I can't help but wonder what Crowley must have offered you to convince you to come after me. Did he get tired of sending the smaller demons out after me?" He taunted. "Has he finally sent something that is worth my time?"

"My boss made a deal with the guy holding your soul marker." The girl explained, as she reached behind her and pulled a strange axe like weapon out.

Everyone looking at the weapon could almost feel the power that the weapon seemed to exude from it. It made a person even more worried as there were few weapons that could actually do that. Methos had seen a few such weapons of power in his time. In Scotland he had known a wizard with a heavy broadsword that had done that, Samuel Colt's gun was a weapon of power even if it didn't look like much of a weapon. It made him wonder what was going to happen next.

The girl launched herself off of the ledge and landed perfectly. Had she been judged for that landing, she probably would have been given full marks for what she had just done. "So, how about you fight someone that knows who and what you are and where your power comes from?" The blonde asked him curiously.

"Interferences is not allowed." Duncan tried to remind everyone.

The blonde smirked at the guy who was obviously not used to having to be rescued. "I don't play by the rules very good, never have' doubt that I ever will." The Rider explained to ponytail, as she was mentally dubbing him. Ponytail with an accent, but still a ponytail.

"There are rules though that we must all follow." Duncan told her officiously, as if she was a part of their little club.

The Rider shook her head at the man. "Look, I realize that your not used to being the damsel and all, but get over it." She told him. "Also, if you had been paying attention then you would have noticed that I'm not a member of your club of freaks. I happen to be a member of an entirely different one." She explained to him.

Despite the seriousness of the situation Methos couldn't help but snort in amusement at the way that the girl talked down to the Highlander. That alone made this entire trip worth it. He only hoped that she hadn't gotten into a fight that she couldn't get out of later.

The Rider turned to look at the Hunter. "So, Crowley told me that its my job to deal with you.

"I don't know who you are girl, but your not the Rider. If you were the Rider then I would have already started feeding from your power."

"The joy of having a good dog and learning how to control your power." The blonde returned with a grin. "I suppose you want some sort of introduction though right. You guys are all big going I am such and such, of so and so, and I am whatever, and now it is time to fight." She mocked him.

Methos now had a craggy grin on his face. Whoever this woman was she sure had a lot of guts. Most of their kind found a certain bit of power by saying who they were and all that. For her to casually mock that, showed how little respect she had for it though. It was refreshing to hear. It was more along the lines of something that he would have thought that Amanda, another Immortal of their acquaintance would have performed to make one of the more snobbish immortals angry. He glanced over at Joe, and saw that even he was slightly amused by this sudden twist that had appeared out of seeming nowhere.

"Rider you have no business here." One of the Indians shouted, as he stepped forward as if to intimidate the blonde. "Your power means nothing to us."

"If you think that then you really are stupid." The blonde told the man casually, as she looked him up in down in boredom as if she was merely killing time than actually paying attention to him.

The man looked as if he had been slapped by her causal dismissal of them being an actual threat to her. He narrowed his eyes and was about to say something when he was cut off. "Why do you deny her to do her duty brother?" Another one asked. "This is the first time in several years that he has bothered to get off of his seat and do something. How many have we lost to various creatures while he had sat there and stared into his bottle? Our people have supported him for years and yet this is the first time in nearly a lifetime that he has done anything. These ones did nothing to anger or harm us, and yet we allowed this attack to happen if for no other reason than to see what would happen when the Hunter roused himself."

"It is our way." The other Indian defended. "This is what we have been waiting for, the thing to bring his fighting and hunting spirit back to the Hunter. With the destruction of these two Immortals we bring our warrior back to his true potential. Once this is done all of the dark creatures and spirits that have making a home of this area will once again be forced to hide as our chosen warrior retakes the land from them."

"He does not fight for duty, but for a promise of a revenge that may not even be there anymore." Another spoke up.

"It actually doesn't matter what you guys think." The Rider cut into the argument. "There is nothing that you could say or do that would make it to hard for me to take this guy out." She explained to them. "So, how about you get out of the way and let me do my thing?" She requested of them. "Trust me, I'm a lot more than you would like to think." She assured them while flashing a smile at them.

The leaders seemed to be thinking for a moment, as if deciding what it was that they could do.

"I am the Hunter, and I shall destroy you, and all of your kind creature." The Immortal growled, as he rushed towards the blonde.

Rather than meeting him head on the blonde rolled under his first attack. Turning he swung again only for her to sidestep that attack as well. What followed was a series of strikes as the Immortal tried to hack the Rider apart. The girl always managed to be just out of the way of blade though and would follow it up with a light jab or back kick that would send the Hunter stumbling away.

"Stand and fight." The Hunter demanded of her angrily. "Have you no honor?" He demanded of her.

"Says the guy using a demon sword designed to suck the mystical mojo right out of me and into you." The Rider returned bemusedly. "Why would I want to do that?" She questioned him.

The Immortal paused as she explained what his weapon did. It had always been one of his most closely guarded secrets. Now this girl had told several leaders of the area of one of his greatest secrets. "How did you come by this information?" He demanded of her. "None should know of this."

"Uh, I thought I made it pretty clear that I got this job from Crowley." The Rider returned to him, talking slowly as if to a young simpleton. "My job is to bring your self righteous ass in. Its time to do the whole pay the piper thing." She explained to him. "Hell, its actually past time, and I'm sure Crowley will deal with the matter of your late fees in his own way when he finally gets to you." She added with a shrug. "Because trying to gip a demon is really a bad idea." She explained to him.

"A devil blade?" One of the men asked suspiciously. "You're using a devil blade? Only the most foul of methods could arrange for someone to get their hands on such a weapon." He spat out in disgust.

"Silence fool, I have given more than you could ever imagine to the fight against demons, and until you have given even half as much you are not fit to judge me." The Hunter shot back in his defense.

"That explains you." Methos told Duncan, clapping him on the shoulder. "The guy was stealing your strength every time you got close. Wish I had something like that it would make some of my duels easier." He added wistfully as he looked the blade of the Hunter over longingly.

"Something tells me that the price isn't worth it." Joe pointed out. Not if the way that all of these people are acting is anything to go by." He noted nodding towards all of the people that were scowling at the Hunter. "Something tells me the cost of using that sword is more than even you want to pay."

"True, which is a shame." Methos returned, looking at the sword somewhat longingly.

"Besides, would you want someone like her coming after you when you refused to pay your debt?" Joe asked nodding towards the blonde. "Then again, it might mean I could get you to pay your tab." The Watcher suggested with a smirk.

They watched as the girl then did something none of them had been expecting, she formed a ball of flame and threw it at the figure. Despite his surprise, the Hunter was able to bring his weapon up to intercept the attack and they watched as the flames seemed to get sucked up by the blade. "Yes, it can feel your power creature. These powers that you possess are stronger than anything that I've ever faced, and thanks to this sword that power is mine. With the power of the Rider within me, nothing can stand in my way of destroying all of the dark ones that wander he Earth." The Immortal declared as it reveled in the power it had stolen. He swung his sword, and a stream of lighting and flames rushed at the girl.

The Rider ducked under the blast, letting the attack fly over her head and on next with one of the bridges destroying it. When she came back up the Immortal was there and he swung his sword. The two blades locked. As the blades were balanced against each other dark shadows ran from the blade into the Immortal.

What is this? The Hunter asked, as he felt something else, something unexpected. This was not the raw power of the Rider, it was dark and unknown.

Buffy smirked at her opponent. "You really shouldn't have tried to do that." She scolded knowingly. "Maybe it'll teach you not to eat things that you don't know what are." She mused at him.

"Oh and why is that?" The Immortal sneered at her as he tried to ignore the weird sensations that were slicing through his mind. "With your power within me I shall destroy you. Not even the so called Rider will be able to stand against me." He gloated at her.

"Well you see, I'm not just the Rider, I'm also one of the Slayers, one of the last Chosen Slayers, and the Slayer isn't a big fan of having other unallowed people trying to use her power." Buffy explained with a predatory grin. "Trust me I've seen her reaction when it was people that I liked, even so I had to vouch for them. There's no telling what it might do to someone that's trying to force the share when I don't like them." She warned the Immortal.

The Immortal gasped as he felt a new presence attacking his mind. The Immortal gaped in shock, as the pair of them seemed to be transported into a desert. The pair continued to fight, but they were now kicking up sand. In the corner of his vision, he could see a woman with wild hair, dressed in leather skins, and wearing war paint. She was pacing back and forth while watching the two of them as they moved around trying to kill each other.

"Who is she?" He demanded of his opponent.

"She is me and I am her." The Rider explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "We are one and separate, mother, daughter and sisters, First and Last, Beginning and End all at once. Or at least that's the way that she describes us." She explained carelessly. "Right now she's pissed more than anything else. She's really not a fan of intruders." She explained as she delivered a punch that sent the Immortal staggering.

"Stop talking in circles girl." The Immortal demanded, as he broke away from the blonde to swing his blade at the dark creature that easily dodged the hit and then kicked at him sending him flying back toward the blonde.

"The Rider may be the very nature of vengeance, but the Slayer is the warrior that hides in the shadows and kicks the ass of the evil ones like you." Buffy explained to him. "It can vanish and reappear as needed.

"A Slayer." Methos hissed nervously as he watched the fight. He had heard of the dangerous warrior women. There had been several in Greece over the years. The vampire Kakistos had reportedly killed one once. It was also reported that another Slayer had killed him in America a few years back. He wasn't sure if that was just a rumor or not. He had faked his death enough times that he was skeptical on that one. He had also run I to one as one of the Horsemen. The girl had cost them three, a dozen various retainers, and had managed to kill them all several times. Had she tried to take their heads she likely would have succeeded. Once they had recovered they had left the area for fear of running into others like her. It had taken a lot of searching to find out just what it was that had mowed through them so effortlessly.

"You've heard of them as well then?" Joe asked the other man in surprise.

When you've been around as long as I have you here about a lot of things." Methos explained.

"Only senior members of my branch of the Watchers Council are allowed to even know about the other side of the world." Joe explained to his comrades. Duncan stared at the two men in surprise, but kept his mouth shut as he realized that he was not the expert here.

Methos nodded, it made sense that Joe had been briefed since he was upper to middle management in the Watchers Council that dealt with the Slayer and the supernatural. In his years as a Watcher he had never seen the two branches coexist with each other often or very well. The Watchers that were brought in from the outside world were usually the ones that dealt with the Immortals, while those whose families had been in the business for a few generations usually worked in the supernatural branch. He did know that while his branch was supposed to be old and have sources like no one would believe they paled in comparison to that of the supernatural side.

"I will have your power." The Hunter declared, as he rushed at the girl. Seemingly unworried, the girl met him blow for blow no matter how many times that they crossed blades though the girl never seemed to lose any of her strength. If anything the girl seemed to be more and more amused the longer that the fight drew out. It was as if she was enjoying herself with the fight more than anything else. The pair of them were so wrapped up in their fight that it didn't seem as if they were even aware of the other people that were watching them fight.

"As fun as this is, its time to end this." The Slayer declared. "Preferably before I let my full power out."

"Power that shall soon be mine." The Immortal cried, as he swung his sword downward with both hands.

The Slayer rolled her eyes as she caught the heavy looking sword on the cross guard with one hand. The Immortal looked shocked and tried to pull the sword away from his opponent, but it might as well have been excalibur for all of the success that he was having with it. "Look, I thought to give you a chance, but quite frankly your annoying me." The Slayer explained, as she jerked the sword out of his hands and sent the blade skittering away. "You made a deal, and now its time to pay the piper. One super sword in exchange for your sword." She reminded him pointedly.

"If you kill me, who will guard this land. It is drenched with the blood of those that have had violent death." The Immortal shot back at the Slayer defiantly. "Will you be able to sleep at night knowing how many you have condemned?"

The Slayer smiled at the man even as she waved her weapon towards the assembled people gathered around them. "It is time for them to take their own protection in hand once again. You may have done some good, but this way it has to be. Not that it means much, but I am sorry that it came down to this." The blonde told him. "You should have tried to either get out of the deal, or find people to help you. Maybe even not making crazy deals like that in the first place." She suggested.

"Who are you to judge me." The Immortal spat at her defiantly. "What have you lost in the fight for world? I have been on this world longer than you could know and sacrificed more than you could imagine. How dare you judge me for what I have done. You are like all of the other so called heroes, that feel like you can judge me for what I have done."

The Slayer looked at him grimly, the sympathy in her eyes fading as she tossed him across the river and into the opposite wall. Nearly everyone winced as they saw him slam into the wall. The sound of bones breaking could be heard all the way across. The Rider leaped across the water and landed in a crouch next to him. "I've given everything to keep the world spinning, and unlike you I did it without the advantage of being Immortal or having a choice as well. To protect people I care for, I sold my freedom to become a bounty hunter, for a demon. So be careful what you say before you complain." She growled at him for the first time truly angry at him. "Its time for you to deal with what's to come now." She told him, as she pointed towards something.

The Immortal raised his head and swallowed as he heard a growling noise. He reached into his jacket and withdrew his sunglasses and put them on. He saw several Hellhounds staring at him menacingly. Their forms moving closer and closer. "You going to leave me here for them Slayer?" He asked her curiously.

"I don't exactly have a choice." The blonde returned to him. "Until my debt is paid off, I only have so much freedom. Besides, you were eager enough to kill people that hadn't done anything to you." She reminded him, nodding towards where the two Immortals that he had been preparing to kill were watching them. "You stopped playing for the good guys a long time ago. That's if you ever played for them to start with." She threw him toward the Hellhounds who all lunged at the man. She ignored the screaming and the sound of tearing flesh. Lighting erupted, and the strange energy went into the body of the Immortal she had dubbed as Ponytail. The lighting caused damage all over the place causing lights to explode and metal to become mangled. A moment later it was silent again.

"Well done." Crowley congratulated, as he appeared next to her. "I honestly wasn't sure if you were going to be able to do it. Without lots of damage." He admitted to her. "What's more, you managed to do it without really needing to use your Rider abilities." He sounded genuinely impressed with that feat. "I know I told you to do it that way, but I still had my doubts about you managing to do it. When your contract with Scratch is over you should come see me I might be able to find you something to do." He offered her.

"No offense, but I'm finding it hard enough as it is not to slice you up." Buffy returned to him in annoyance. "Your a slimy wannabe big bad minion, who thinks that your accent and stylish clothes are going to help you out. So, not interested in anything that you have to offer."

"You sure about that Slayer?" Crowley asked her, giving her his best cocky smirk.

Buffy glared at him before raising her scythe and pointing it at some of the hellhounds and releasing a stream of Hellfire that turned the pair into ashes. "That fix any doubts that you might have?" She demanded in annoyance. A demon telling her that he was impressed with her work was not the way for a good to go.

"Shame, we could have been something." A frowning Crowley told her before he disappeared.

Buffy rolled her eyes and made the scythe disappear. She took one of the bridges to cross back to the other side. She looked the two Immortals over curiously. "We going to have problems?" She asked curiously.

"No, you did what you had to." The hawkish looking replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "You also saved his life, so I think we're in the owing you one column."

"Good." Buffy told them. She smiled at the pair and offered her hand. "I'm Buffy."

The three men looked hesitant as they offered their own hands. I'm Joe Dawson and this here is Duncan MacLeod, and Adam Pierson.

Buffy nodded as she looked the pair of men over. Ponytail/Duncan was the tall and dark type similar to Angel. Adam on the other hand was more the mysterious type. There was something about Adam that made her skin itch. She knew that feeling, it was the same feeling she always got when she was around someone that had done more than their fair share of evil. She wondered briefly if his companions knew what kind of person that they were traveling with. It wasn't her concern, but it was still a curiosity. She would be glad to be away from the man, and she may have used a bit more strength than needed when shaking his hand as a warning. All things considered though that was pretty good. She turned to look at the people who were still standing about as if they were trying to decide on what it was that they should do next now that their Champion was gone. "What about you guys, are we going to have a problem?" She questioned the people with interest.

"You have taken our warrior from us Rider, for that you should pay." One of the old Indian men declared, as he withdrew a rattle like device and began shaking it and chanting. The other men also withdrew rattles and some pulled out leather bound drums.

"No good deed goes unpunished." Buffy muttered, as she watched sparkling walls go up. She reached out and touched one and got a zap to her hand. "You realize this won't hold me?" She asked them Idly as she shook feeling back into her hand.

"This is a binding ritual Rider, you will not pass." The old Indian explained to her.

Buffy rolled her eyes before closing them and letting the flames that she had kept bottled inside during the battle out. It had been hard not to let the monster that she housed out, particularly when she was having to bring something like that guy down. When you added in the feeling that surrounded the Adam guy, and it had been a real test of her self control. To think that she had thought for a minute there that she was going to manage to get out of town without having to burn her way put. Shows what happened when she let happy thoughts distract her. Flames whipped around her, burning her skin away leaving her as a flaming skeleton. The Slayer Rider was once more awake. With a snarl the being slammed its fists into the shield. The shield flared under the punch and a number of the ones holding the shield either gasped in pain or threw various items away as they burst into flames.

"I don't now about you two, but I'm thinking now would be a good time for us to make a run for it." Adam told the others as he helped Duncan to his feet. I'd rather not find out what that thing would do to us if it decided it was annoyed with us. He didn't mention the cold feeling that he had gotten when he had caught the eyes of the creature. This was a feeling of dread that was worse than any that he had ever felt. If this was the true form of that girl then he wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

Methos. The creature hissed out at the Immortal in recognition.

"Can't argue with that." Joe agreed. Duncan nodded his agreement and three beat a hasty retreat. They really didn't want to find out what the creature would do to someone it obviously knew about.

The creature threw another punch as it watched another one of the guilty run away from it. The cage that held the Slayer Rider flashed as it tried to contain the being. With a flash of fire the shield shattered and all of the ones trying to hold the Slayer Rider were thrown back. Some merely fell to the ground others were knocked into the water and some through store fronts. The various chiefs and medicine men rose back to their feet weakly, as they prepared to continue their efforts to contain the creature that had taken their Champion.

"That's enough!" A voice barked out from above. Everyone turned to see Cordell Walker looking down on them. "I tried to stay out of this, I really did." He told them. "This is to much though." He gestured to the sky where everyone could see the large cloud of smoke that was rising. The combination of a Quickening and then the Rider unleashing its Hellfire had caused all sorts of damage.

The Slayer Rider snarled back in defiance of the lawman.

Walker fired a warning shot at the flaming figure, only to watch as it, then returned fire by hurling a ball of flame at the Texas Ranger. Walker managed to duck the fireball, but the building behind him was hit and there a small explosion as it tore through the building. The Ranger fired another round this one hitting the Slayer Rider in the shoulder.

The Slayer Rider barely even noticed the hit though, as it turned to look at the various men that had tried to capture it. It breathed out a cloud of fire that burned all of the plants in the area and set the water to boiling.

Walker frowned as he leaped down, and began rushing towards the flaming skeletal figure that looked like some type of Dia de Los Muertos artwork. It was hard to believe that this was the perky blonde girl that he had been speaking with a few hours ago. She didn't remind him of a guardian anymore. Instead she reminded him more of the very monster that she was supposed to fight against. He tried firing again, shooting round after round into its back until his clip was empty. It was as if nothing he did was enough. The Slayer Rider was ignoring him despite the fact that he had just filled its back with bullets.

"Washo." A voice called out in relief.

Walker nodded to the person calling him and caught the strange sword that it had thrown to him. His gun hadn't done anything to this thing, maybe the giant blade would. "Get everyone out of here now." He ordered, the man nodded, and began gesturing for people to start making their way out while helping those that were either unconscious or injured. The Texas Ranger twirled the blade a couple of times to get a feel for the blade before charging.

The Slayer Rider saw the attacker and brought forth an ax like weapon that intercepted the assault. The strange ax like weapon batted the sword to the side and Walker received a punch that sent him tumbling to the side. Walker shook his head he looked at the wall and saw that it had cracked, but all in all he didn't feel as bad as he should. That punch should have knocked him out, and hitting the wall should have broken several bones. Instead he was getting up again, feeling sore, but otherwise alright. He looked up to see that the Slayer Rider appeared angry about something. Whatever it was he had to stop it, or at the very least delay it long enough for people to evacuate. He could hear the howl of sirens, and realized he only needed to keep it busy for a few more minutes then backup would be here. Hopefully the San Antonio police department could stop this thing where he had not been able to. He just had to hope he could delay it long enough. He moved in again swinging his blade.

The Slayer Rider snarled, and blocked the series of quick strikes that were coming in at it, batting the attacks away as if they were nothing more than a nusiance. This human was becoming annoying, even if its attacks were becoming faster and stronger they were still nothing. To make it all the more annoying, this was a follower of the path of justice. It had done nothing to truly annoy the Slayer Rider other than to impose itself between it and its attackers.

"Come on now, you need to get control of yourself." Walker tried to reason with he creature that contained someone that he respected. He took a step back and glared at the figure. "You aren't going to get anything out of this by doing it like this. It has to stop." He pleaded.

"It never stops Ranger." The Rider Rasped out.

"Well I'm making it stop." Walker told her firmly.

"Don't follow." The Slayer Rider snarled, as it turned away from him, a motorcycle somehow pulling up alongside of it. It got on, revved the engine and then took off. Actually riding along the walls.

Walker cursed, as he realized what it was doing it was heading away from the part of the street and would appear someplace else where the cop cars weren't and gain a few seconds in which to disappear. Whether it was fear for itself, or fear of hurting his people he wasn't sure. He just knew that any chance that they had of stopping the Rider was gone. He figured within minutes he would be receiving word that the Rider would be out of town. He wondered how he was going to explain this. It was going to be a pain for the tourist industry as the River Walk was one of the main attractions.

"Good work Washo, you did right by keeping back until the Rider became active." Gray Wolf thanked the Texas Ranger. "Your noble spirit made you the least likely to be a target, the Rider has a reluctance to destroy those such as yourself."

"Yeah, and what do we do about the Rider now?" Walker asked in annoyance, as he could see flame tread marks along the wall where the Rider had somehow ridden up the wall as if it was a part of the street. "So what happens to the Rider?" He asked with concern as he thought of the blonde girl.

"The Rider is bound to a darker power Washo, nothing that I know of can free it. Until the time that the Rider can figure how to free itself it is stuck performing the missions that its master has set for it. Pray that you never annoy it or cross paths with it again, if it were you would surely die. It is only thanks to the power that the cursed weapon lent you that you managed to survive as it is." He added, as he picked up the sword that Walker had been fighting with. The blade was red hot and looked like it would fall apart any moment now. "Without this, you surely would have died Washo. It is good to know that there are ways for our own to fight that which need to be fought. We don't have to depend on others anymore."

"Yeah, I just hope no one gets in the way of the Rider." Walker returned, as he looked at the damage again, his eyes drifting to the cracked wall where he had been thrown. All of this had been because the Rider had been breaking out of a prison that no one should have tried to put it in to begin with. He would hate to see what it would done had it been actively searching for someone. He sighed it looked like he was going to have a long night with all of this.

Duncan sighed as he looked Methos over. The Rider or Slayer or whatever it was that she called herself had done a real number on the oldest living immortal. That creature, had scared the man that had stood and watched empires rise and fall. No one had seen more of the world than he had. Still that creature had scared him more than he had ever seen him. By Methos own admittance he was alive because he knew when to fight and when to run. Unfortunately for him those instincts that had seen him live this long were telling him that now was the time to hide like he had never hidden before.

"We have to get out of here right now Highlander, there is no way that I want to be in the same time zone as that thing." Adam told the others. "I'm actually more inclined to be on different continents." He informed them.

"To late." Joe told them as they all turned to see what looked like an incoming ball of fire.

How did it find me? Adam demanded.

"Worry about that later, right now you need to run." Duncan told his friend, pushing him forward.

"And where am I going to run against that?" Adam snapped back as he drew his sword in anticipation for what was to come.

The fireball stopped in front of the group and the three men turned to look at the Slayer Rider. "Death." The creature snarled out as it looked at the Immortal.

"That's who he used to be." Duncan tried to interrupt.

"Sorry Highlander, but I don't think that he's all that interested in listening to what you have to say." The Old Man told the other Immortal.

The Slayer Rider moved faster than any of them had expected of her and reached down and grabbed Adam by his jacket. Flames flared from the skeletal limb. Adam scream in pain as he was struck by the Hellfire flames. The creature likely would have continued to inflict pain on the former Horseman but was distracted as several police cars following the flaming tire tracks appeared and began to bore down on them. Snarling in frustration the creature flung Adam away revved its engine and took off with the police cars following close behind.

Joe and Duncan rushed to the side if their friend to look him over. He had severe burns over half of his face and chest. To make it worse he didn't appear to be healing at his normal rate. Normally such damage would be accompanied by the sparking signs of quickening. While there were a few, for the most part it was as if his healing power had been slowed down.

"This isn't good." Joe mumbled as he wondered how he was going to manage with this. The fact that the Rider had managed to cancel out the healing power of the oldest was disturbing.

"We need to get him out of here now. Before that thing decides to come back and finish the job off." Duncan nodded and the men boarded a taxi and got out of there.

Buffy groaned as her consciousness finally took over as the Slayer Rider dodged through the highway streets. She willed her power back down into whatever place that it normally was. Her bike slowed before coming to a stop. She saw a sign that read. Now Leaving Missouri. It seemed that she had traveled for a bit before she had woken up. At least this time she hadn't woken up in some random alley though, so things were definitely looking up. She wondered briefly what had happened while she had been under. If she focused she could make out some sort of blurry image. She would work on that when she found a place to stop for the night, as she would rather not have whatever Rider memories she had to shock her. She hoped that the Rider hadn't hurt the guys that she had saved. It would be kind of counterproductive if it had decided to target those guys for whatever reason. Not that she would completly blame it since she recalled the feeling that she had gotten from one of them.

She was distracted from her positive thoughts as Mephistoles appeared on the street. If she had been moving she probably would have wiped out in front of him. "Well done." Scratch congratulated her. "You managed that mission very well. Even managed to do it with a bit of style." He added proudly. "Course, now that the easy jobs like those are over it'll soon be time to get to the real jobs." He warned her.

Buffy nodded her head in acceptance. "So where am I heading next?" She wondered to him.

"For now you can drift." Mephistoles told her. "When you come to a place where I think I'll need you I'll let you know." He informed her.

"In other words, whenever it'll be inconvenient for me you'll make yourself and my next job known." Buffy shot back at him dryly.

"Something like that." Scratch agreed with her assessment. "I did wonder what you thought of Crowley as well."

"He's a wannabe big bad that gives salesmen everywhere a bad name." Buffy returned to him with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have taken the deal if he had been the one to come by my house that night. Must be why most of his clients are desperate."

Mephisto smirked at his Rider before he disappeared.

Buffy shook her head. Some demons just loved to pull the whole disappearing act trick that they had. Personally she thought that they abused the privilege, but it wasn't like there was anything that she could do about it. She didn't bother looking behind her, she was just traveling as fast and as far from Texas as she could. The sooner she was away from that place where the work of the Rider had started the better. She would head East, and see what she could find there. She had never been to some of the places there.

There had to be something interesting for someone like her to find and do. Besides, its not she would be able to resist when Scratch told her to transform and be his Bounty Hunter. She might as well enjoy the trip.


	15. Friendship Maine

I claim no ownership in this chapter for the BTVS, Marvel, or Casper characters. They belong to Whedon, Marvel, and Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo.

* * *

Buffy rolled her shoulders tiredly as she came into the town. The place looked decent enough, and if she was anybody else she might think that it looked as advertised. A small little no nothing town who's most interesting feature was its high school gossip. Having spent seven years in a town that had pretended to be like that, she was naturally suspicious of what she might find here. If it wasn't for the fact that she was tired and just wanted to sleep she would probably have given the town a complete miss. That and every time she ended up in a big town she managed to cause lots of property damage. On the plus side, the town didn't seem to be affecting her Slayer or Rider senses, which meant that there was a chance that she could slip in and out of the town before something decided that they wanted to challenge her. Supernatural beings seemed to have an urge to measure their worth more than high school football players.

She managed to get the sleep that she wanted. It was nice to get a full night sleep without any dreams or interruptions. It did began to make her wonder if maybe she wasn't being just a bit paranoid when it came to small towns. Maybe there really were innocent places like this, where the people weren't really out to get you and didn't have some dark secret war going on in the background. She stopped her musings as she looked over the table and groaned as she saw what one of the business cards said. _Dr. James Harvey: Paranormal Therapist._ A supernatural therapist. There had to be some sort of catch to the guy, unless he was some sort of scam artist. She figured that she could at the very least stop by the address and see what kind of person it was that was here. Besides, if it was a scam artist she would enjoy scaring the guy making a mockery of her reality.

It had taken only a few minutes to find the big and somewhat creepy looking mansion that had been the address. Buffy had smirked a bit as she looked it over. A part of her half expected to see Scooby Doo and Shaggy to come running out of the place. It was like every cliche haunted house/mansion she had ever heard of. If it wasn't for the fact that she knew how big on cliches that supernatural creatures could be she wouldn't even bother going in. Hell, Dracula still lived in a castle.

Buffy knocked on the door, and watched as the door open on its own. She smirked as she waltzed in and saw a kind of nerdy looking guy. She guessed that this was the paranormal therapist or whatever he was. In the past she would have gone for her dumb blonde routine to approach him To bad said routine didn't work very well in biker leathers."You Dr. Harvey?" She asked curiously, as she looked the man over unimpressed.

"Indeed I am, and you are?" The man asked her cordially if not somewhat warily.

The blonde smiled a bit at him. He kind of reminded her of how Wesley or an early Giles used to act when she first met them. Very junior Watcher like in his demeanor. Only without the accent or the tweed. Not that, that was a bad thing. "Buffy Summers." She explained, watching to see if there was any flash of recognition. Instead he just smiled blandly at her. That was no big deal, since her reputation was mainly in So-Cal, and some of the major cities. Besides some people didn't really pay attention to the name just the title. "So according to your card your a supernatural therapist?" She questioned him curiously.

"Paranormal Therapist." He corrected out of habit.

Buffy smirked at the man. He either was in the know, or he was rather connected to the precise wording of what he was supposed to be an expert in. Personally she was really hoping that this guy didn't turn out to be another Dr. Walsh. "So you only deal in therapeutic exercises for paranormals then, not supernaturals?" She asked him cautiously.

"That's correct," Dr. Harvey confirmed, "I only do this for ghosts, souls, spirits, paranormal beings, or any of the other names that they come by. I do not deal with fabricated things like werewolves and vampires and other fictional creatures though. I deal in things that are of this world." He added in somewhat haughtily.

Buffy tried hard not to smile at the man but really there was just something hard not to laugh about the way that he responded. Here was a man that was probably considered a joke in his field and he was berating her on the reality of vampires and werewolves. The irony of it all was just to good. Then there was his wording. He only dealt in things of this world. She wondered if anyone had ever told him that most supernaturals weren't of this world. "Why don't you take me through what you think paranormal beings are then?" She offered to him. "I'm curious as to the kind of work your doing here." She admitted to him.

The man looked at her somewhat suspiciously, but nodded his head in agreement. The pair sat down and Buffy listened to his theories on what paranormal science was and how souls that still had something to hang onto in the living world would refuse to cross over. It was his job as a Paranormal Therapist to help give the spirits/ghosts/souls the closure that they needed to move on.

Buffy found herself to be surprised to find herself interested in all that he was talking about. While she hadn't run across ghosts very often when she had been working in the Hellmouth there had been a few times when such a thing might have been useful. Also would have been useful for their group when you considered what it was that they had faced. Would this guy have been able to deal with the double talk of the First? Briefly Buffy found her interest in psychology resurface. She had been good at it according to Walsh, of course considering what the woman had done with her free time Buffy wasn't completely convinced her recommendations were a good thing.

"Do you truly believe that you can manage to talk a ghost down enough that it will want to move on though?" She asked him curiously. "I mean some ghosts likely had rather violent deaths." Buffy pointed out to him.

"Don't we try to make criminals to get proper mental help?" Dr. Harvey shot back at her with a shrug. He had heard these sorts of arguments before. He had to admit it didn't often get them from someone that seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say though. It was a nice change from the usual skeptics or people that wanted to humiliate him that wanted to do a Q&A session. Also she didn't seem to doubt that it was possible for ghosts to exist or for them to have unfinished business. No, she was more interested in whether they deserved his kind of help, and the process that he used. He had a feeling that there were things that she wasn't saying. While her training was rough and obviously mostly self-taught, she was able to grasp some of the methods fairly well. Even if she didn't have the names memorized, and gave bastardized versions of them.

"So, have you actually had any success with your process?" Buffy asked curiously, wondering what he would tell her.

"We've managed to cure one ghost here using that method." Dr. Harvey admitted. "Part of that was because she was a recently killed one though and her core personality, or ID and Ego as Freud called them were still in place. I think the longer that a ghost is left alone the more internalized things become for some spirits and they forget more and more and more of what they were. Its a gradual burying of the Ego while the Superego seems to become more predominant within the spirit. Its when that happens that they're usually onlly left with a handful of emotions, and usually the stronger ones become dominant and they lose their last sense of ID and Ego and become dark spirits.

"So you think that spirits are actually easier to um, talk across the younger or newer to the whole ghosty thing that they are?" Buffy asked, her brow wrinkled as she thought of this theory.

Dr. Harvey nodded his head in agreement with what she was returning to him. His eyes lighting up in the excitement that someone got when someone finally understood them. "Exactly, they still identify themselves as human for the most part, and haven't lost themselves to the Superego."

"Is their a time limit you think on how long a spirit can be a ghost before it becomes like this? Buffy asked curiously.

"That's something I don't know." He admitted to her as he waved his hands towards several boxes fill with various documents. "I've seen reports of some paranormals that have started almost immediately after death on the path of vengeful spirits while others have taken their time before they lost their sense of self. Some spirits have even become guardians for a time before the madness overtakes them. I have noticed that spirits that interact with the world are more likely to stagnate in whatever position that they are currently at."

"What about the idea of simply salting and burning their bones and forcing them to cross over though?" Buffy asked curiously, remembering a rumor she had heard about that working.

"It may take care of the immediate problem of the problems the spirit causes, but it could also cause some sort of mentally crippling thing to happen to them if they are returned before they are ready." Dr. Harvey explained to her with a frown. "Not that some spirits don't need to have that done, but you should judge it by a case by case basis and not just presume that their all going to be evil. Only those that that have become completely lost within their Superego would need such treatment." He cautioned her. There is also the fact that any spirit who's bones you tried to burn would feel threatened and defend its bones and existence as much as a living person would their life and could become violent in their attempt to stay on this plane until they could finish whatever their business is."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Buffy agreed. "I do find it a shame that you limit yourself to only paranormal though. If it weren't for that I could think that there would be a lot more patients for you doc." She tried, waiting to see what his reaction was.

Dr. Harvey rolled his eyes, slightly exasperated at her returning to this. "As I told you earlier, I only deal in the paranormal though not the other stuff."

"Yeah, but people don't believe you about paranormals, who's to say there aren't things out there that you haven't been made aware of?" Buffy asked him curiously. "I mean tales of spirits or ghosties have for the most part been thought to be fictional. What if the others have a basis?" Buffy figured if he didn't admit to knowing this time, she would make some question about some of the idiot peoples ideas that romanticized vamps and other supernaturals to throw him off.

James Harvey opened his mouth to counter that, but paused as he thought it out. "I suppose its possible." He finally admitted warily. "Until I see some sort of supernatural creature I think that for the time being that I will have to remain a skeptic on the believability of such beings though." He reasoned to her diplomatically.

Buffy wanted to laugh, he was talking to a person that was practically leaking supernatural out of them, and he didn't even know it. She doubted that anyone not in the know would understand the irony she was feeling. Still, it was better if the man stayed in his piece of the world that he knew and understood. Her eyes drifted towards a clock and she blushed as she realized how long that they had been talking. "It's been interesting Dr. Harvey, but I have to get going." She explained rising to her feet, as she offered her hand to the man.

"Of course, come by anytime." Dr. Harvey returned to her with a smile. "If you ever have any questions regarding paranormal activities be sure to call me." He informed her. He figured she had been hunting for a way to end a haunting somewhere. He really hoped she didn't try to use the burning of the bones method. It was a dangerous one. Spirits were likely to answer such a response with deadly force of their own.

"Will do." Buffy promised, as she began heading for the door. She paused though as she sensed something. Something powerful in fact. While it wasn't on her level, it was stronger than she had been expecting.

"So doc, who's the person with all the power?" A nasally voice demanded as three ghosts lowered themselves through the ceiling. "I mean we've been feeling that power for an hour or two now. Its rude not to introduce guests like that to us." The owner of the voice explained snobbishly.

Buffy looked up to see a trio of grayish white blob like creatures that were coming down and acting as if they owned the house. Considering that they were ghosts, there was actually a chance that at one time or another that they had owned the house. One of them looked like a giant marshmallow considering how fat he was, while the other two were much slimmer in build.

Dr. Harvey watched her nervously to see what kind of reaction that the girl might have to the presence of three real ghosts. It was one thing to talk about the theory of Paranormal Therapy, it was another when one was confronted with a paranormal being though. He wondered how loud she was going to scream.

"Hey doc we're talking wit youse." One of the other thin ones complained in a a more raspy voice.

"Yeah, its bad manners to ignore us like that." The large one boomed out in agreement.

"Yeah, you might give us an inferiority complex."

"Not to mention its unprofessional for a person like yourself to add in unknown Fleshie elements to our environment." The first one added in, with what almost looked like a sneer aimed at the two of them.

"I take it these are your patients?" Buffy asked calmly, as she looked the strange spirits over with interest.

"Yes that they are." Dr. Harvey admitted letting out a sigh of relief that she hadn't made a mad dash for the door or ghosts actually more annoyed by her lack of reaction than anything else. "May I introduce you to Stretch, Stinkie, and Fatso. Better known as the Ghostly Trio."

"They worked really hard on coming up with those names didn't they?" An amused Buffy asked him, as she looked the trio over without any worry.

"And who are you Fleshie?" The ghost named Stretch demanded of her. "I don't recall ever inviting you over."

Buffy chuckled at the figure that was hovering in front of her. "You really want to play the whose a bigger bad ass with me?" She questioned with a cocked head aimed at him. "Geeze what is it with guys always having to prove that their the biggest douche bags around? You would think that being dead might have cured you of it."

Stretch seemed unaffected by her sarcastic tone. "I'll have you know Fleshie, that we invented being douche bags." He bragged to her.

"And you're actually proud of that?" Buffy returned with an amused twitch of her lip.

"Who are you Fleshie?" Stretch demanded in annoyance at this human that refused to be impressed or cowed by their mere presence. Usually by this time they were pelting the running Fleshie with various items as they fled from their home.

"Yeah." The other two echoed.

"Buffy Summers." She explained, crossing her arms as if daring them to say something.

The Ghostly Trio looked surprised at that. "As in the Vampire Slayer?" Stretch asked with a calculating voice.

"Buffy Summers?" The other two repeated, their cocky and jovial attitudes vanishing and very obviously swallowing in fear.

"You know her?" Dr. Harvey asked in surprise, as he looked at the blonde with new interest wondering just exactly who it was that she was.

"No Doc, not really, but we have heard of her through reputation." Stinkie admitted nervously, while Stretch continued to have a staring contest with the blonde.

"Reputation?" Dr. Harvey asked.

"Yeah Doc she's the reason that a friend of ours that was doing the high unlife in California was able to move on." Stretch explained with a scowl. "James Stanley was a good friend of ours, a little bit obsessed with his teacher than he should have." He noted with a knowing chuckle. "He was still good company."

Then there was the old Holt Orphanage that some of her friends dealt with. Not that she didn't play a part in it. Stinkie added with a leer.

You heard about that? Buffy asked weakly while her cheeks went red.

"Who didn't hear about that one?" Stretch returned smugly. "Your vampire wasn't exactly hard to get to tell tales."

"Spike is so lucky he didn't make it out of town." Buffy grumbled, as she tried to get body under control. It didn't help that Stretch had the same attitude.

"That doesn't even mention the fact that she destroyed our vacation home." Fatso reminded the others somewhat grumpily.

"Yeah that's right." Stinkie agreed, while giving her the stink eye. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to get that place? There was a waiting list 3 centuries long for places there. It was supposed to be our turn this year."

"Yeah that's right, how are you going to compensate us for that?" Stretch grumbled.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the trio. "In case you forgot, I also lost my home there." She pointed out to the belligerent spirits. "And it's not like you guys are hurting for places to hang." She reminded them, as she waved her hand at the mansion.

Before the spirits could come up with a counter three more figures entered the room one through the window on a broom, another ran through the door and the final one popped out of the floor. The girl that was running nearly slammed into Buffy who managed to side step her even as the girl dropped to the ground in a roll and came back up.

'Winner!" The girl by the window declared with a smirk as she looked at her companion while holding a gizmo off the hearth in victory.

"Damn it." The dark haired girl grumbled as she saw that her companion had beat her.

"Ah come on Kat, you'll get her next time." A smaller ghost offered with an encouraging smile.

"Girls." Dr. Harvey shouted, causing them to look up and see the group staring at them. Buffy looked the trio over with interest. Each girl looked like they were about college age. A blonde in a hoodie holding a broom of all things. She figured Phoebe and Willow would both have a fit if she was to ever see that. Neither one of them were big fans of the stereotypes that involved witches. The brunette reminded her of a young Faith and Dawn mixture complete with attitude.

"Ah hi." The kid ghost offered towards Buffy sheepishly. His smile grew when she didn't take off running away from him.

"Sorry dad." The brunette girl offered. "Wendy here challenged me to a race though." She told the man, nodding towards the blonde girl wearing a red hoodie. "Whoever could make it here fastest from the lab."

"That may be but you nearly ran over a guest." Dr. Harvey reprimanded his daughter while nodding towards Buffy.

"Sorry." The trio all echoed.

"Well you should be fleshie, witch, the adults were talking." Stretch grumbled while glaring at them.

"Go stick your head in a blender." The girl snapped back at him defiantly. "Or better yet, why don't you get a life?" She suggested with a smirk while meeting the angry ghost glare with one of her own.

Buffy bit her lip in amusement of her choice of words and saw that the witch was hiding a smile behind her mouth.

"Hey, there's no reason to get insulting." Stinkie complained.

"Yeah." Fatso agreed. The two ghosts were now glaring at the girl in annoyance who amazingly enough was able to meet the glares of all three ghosts with equal power.

"Ooh we're so scared." Stretch mocked at her attitude. "Who do you think you are, Wednesday Addams?" He demanded of the girl.

Buffy shook her head a bit as she listened to the girl go back and forth with the ghost. "And who are you guys?" She asked the new arrivals curiously.

"Well I'm Casper the Friendliest Ghost." The ghost-boy introduced himself. That's Kat, she's Dr. Harvey's daughter, and then there's Wendy."

Buffy smiled as she shook hands with the being. "I'm Buffy Summers." She introduced herself. Casper blushed slightly at the smile she flashed at him, causing the two girls to scowl at her jealously.

"Buffy Summers?" Wendy squeaked out in surprise. "My aunts told me about you and Willow Rosenburg."

Buffy smiled at the blonde. "Don't believe everything people tell you." She warned then turned to look at Dr. Harvey. "And you tell me the supernatural doesn't exist when you have three of the strongest poltergeists ever, a guardian spirit, a witch, and a vampire slayer all in the same room as you?" She asked somewhat incredulously of the man. "Either you're in denial, trying to hide it, or completely oblivious." She told him.

"Actually we've been trying to find a way to break the news to him doll face." Stretch admitted. "Hell, we've even told him a time or two but he keeps coming up with some new excuse as for how something happened."

"Ah one of those." Buffy nodded in understanding. "My mom used to be like that, took me being involved in the world for nearly three years before she was ready to accept it. Even so, she tried to deny it." Buffy told him.

"Good, so youse understand what we're dealing with." Stretch sighed in relief. "The Doc is good at what he does, but he's a bit reluctant to accept some of our ideas on things. Any suggestions on how to get him to accept its all real?"

"He'll come around eventually, until then just try and make sure he doesn't do anything to stupid. Sometimes they feel like they'll have to do something just to prove your wrong which can lead to much badness." Buffy warned the group. Maggie Walsh hadn't believed that she was dealing with magic and had ended up dead. Course that was more to do with her playing Doc Frankenstein then anything else. Then again she did add demon parts to her super soldier collage.

"Alright, we'll keep it in mind, now what's this about Kat being a Slayer? I thought that was youse?" Stretch questioned her. The other ghosts nodded their heads in agreement.

Buffy smirked a bit even as she shrugged. Seemed that these ghosts had a soft spot for Kat, even if they didn't want to admit it. "Rules have changed, I got tired of living by the rules of some old windbags. So me and some others changed them."

"A girl after our own ectoplasm. If you wasn't a Fleshie I might be interested in ya."

"Yeah sorry, I'm trying to stick with guys that have a heartbeat right now." She explained to the ghost. She really wasn't interested in doing her Cookie Dough speech for this group anyways.

"Your loss." Stretch returned with a shrug.

"So what is a big moved and shaker like you doing in a burb like Friendship Maine?" Stretch asked curiously.

"Yeah, we're usually pretty quiet around here from vamps, demons, and dark magic users." Fatso agreed. "Wendy here is usually just thought of as the Cutest Little Witch."

Wendy blushed at the reminder of her old nickname.

"Doing some traveling and dealing with some things that I agreed to." Buffy explained to the trio. "You know, make a deal with Scratch and eventually you have to pay him back."

"Scratch!" All of the ghosts shouted as they zipped back several feet in fear.

"What are you doing making deals with a guy like him for?" Stinkie asked fearfully.

Fatso nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, don't you know what happens to people he deals with?"

"Yep." Buffy replied, as she held her hand up and a ball of hellfire appeared in her hand. "I think that I have a real good idea."

This seemed to be the limit for Dr. Harvey, as his eye rolled up in the back of his head and he fainted.

The Ghostly Trio on the other hand seemed to be much more impressed with the display of power. "Wow, you're the current host for the Rider. Stretch questioned in awe. "I mean had we known what you were.

"Yeah, we didn't mean no disrespect." Stinkie added in nervously.

"Yeah we ah always thought that you were a good person, and that vacation home wasn't really all that big. Besides I burn to easy as it is." Fatso stuttered out.

"Yeah, and my allergies always acted up from all of the dust out there." Stinkie agreed.

"And the taxes for the place were horrible." Stretch finished off. "We should be thanking you for helping us get out of it."

"It was a pleasure boys." Buffy returned to them with an amused smile as she closed her hand snuffing the fireball. "Say, you know how you could make it up to me though?" She requested of them.

"What?" The trio asked of her desperately.

"Help me find a good bar somewhere in this state." Buffy replied to the desperate group. "Ever since I've been getting jobs from Scratch its been one of the few pastimes that I enjoy these days. You know comparing bars by their drinks and their food. I figure a group like you guys probably know a few good places to get food."

The Ghostly Trio nodded eagerly and gathered together in a huddle for a moment as they began discussing various bars that might interest her.

"That should keep them busy for a few minutes." Buffy explained with a smile as she turned to look at the girls. "So what's your stories?" She asked them curiously.

"Our story?" Kat asked in disbelief. This person just a few years older than the two of them had just cowed the Ghostly Trio faster and more easily than anyone or thing that she had ever seen.

"Well yeah, how many groups have a Slayer, a Ghost, and a Witch in them?" Buffy returned to the girl with a smile.

"You manage to make my dad faint, and get the most disgusting trio of beings to follow your orders and you think that we have a story?" Kat demanded of her in wonder.

"Yep." Buffy agreed, popping the p at the end.

"You know what's happening to me?" Kat asked her hopefully. "You can explain away all of the dreams and the sudden increase in all of my physical abilities in a way that makes sense?" Her voice practically pleading for the other girl to have an answer. "The three of us have been working for weeks on trying to figure it all out."

"Sure, your A Vampire Slayer, Not The, but A. If anyone ever tries to tell you different then have your witch's friend there turn them into the ass that their being." She advised them with a grin. The girls grinned at her in return. "I can have some people send you some info or you can wait until another witch of power finds you. If that happens I suggest you be very careful with your friends as she doesn't like to startle very much, and people knowing things when she thinks they don't can make her cranky and prone to shoot magic and ask questions later." She warned them.

"Well I can hide us for a while, if Willow Rosenburg doesn't know about you specifically." Wendy offered while waving her wand.

"If that's what you want to do." Buffy told her with a shrug. "Knowing what you are could be a big help though. I'd train you myself, but there are things stopping me. I wouldn't be the best of people to train you right now. Maybe in a couple of years though." She added in hopefully.

"Hey Fleshie, Witch, Bulb Head, leave our guest alone and deal with the Doc already." Stretch ordered, as the Ghostly Trio began hovering over the blonde.

The trio of good members rolled their eyes in exasperation at the others. It seemed they were all used to the Ghostly Trio throwing their Incorpeal weight around all of the time. Buffy could understand why Kat had told them to get a life.

"Come on Slayer er Rider, ah Buffy. Stinkie stuttered out unsure what exactly to call her. We know this great spot.

Yeah, f you have any control of your other powers now would be the time to use them and we can get where we need to sooner. Stretch suggested her.

Buffy looked nervous. She had never used her Rider powers for just fun. Still it might be an interesting experience. "Here, call me if you have any questions." She offered to the girls as she scribbled a phone number on some paper. :That or if you want to talk about other stuff. If I can't talk with you about it maybe I know someone who can. I happen to know a lot of different people including some pretty cool witches." She assured the pair making sure that she looked all three in the eyes before focusing on Kat. "Tell your dad I'm sorry for running off as well, but hat the brothers wanted to show me a good night out." She suggested.

"Thanks." The girls said waving at the woman who ran out the doors.

As Buffy got outside she realized that it was nearly noon. It just made her all the more hungry. "Which way?" She asked, as she mounted up.

"Follow us doll face." Stretch suggested as they took off into the sky. "To the Grey Gull."

Buffy rolled her eyes as she summoned the power of the Rider and felt the flare of power as flames overtook her and the bike and she followed after the three. She hoped that the Rider wouldn't think that she was abusing its power by using it as a booster. The fact that the Ghostly Trio were flying around her as she rode made this one of the more fun transformations that she had ever gone through. She hoped that the place that the brothers picked had good food and drink.

* * *

Don't own Addams Family either, that's Charles Addams. Considering the same actress played both Kat and Wednesday, I couldn't resist though.


	16. Haven, Maine

This newest addition of Haven belongs to scyfy company.

* * *

Duke Crocker owner and manager of the Grey Gull, a small seaside restaurant and bar looked up as he heard the familiar roar of a motorcycle. He looked up in time to see a blonde girl with leather clad legs that reminded him somewhat of some of the cheerleaders and dancers that he had known over his life. He noticed that she seemed to be talking to someone, and presumed that she had a headset hidden behind her hair. The fact that she was laughing over something that someone was saying seemed to be enough for her. Moving with a smoothness that he had cultivated over the years he moved in towards her.

"Now this is one of the few bars that we can stand to spend any time in without trying to run all of the people off in." Stretch explained to the blonde.

"Really?" Buffy asked in surprise, as she looked around in suspicion. It was filled with townies and travelers sitting at the various tables while fishermen, local bikers, and truckers sat at the bar. Nothing about it looked like it had anything that would be a draw for a group of ghosts. In fact it had a kind of rustic cheery feeling to it. It didnt even seem to be located near some dark essence of energy either.

"Yeah it may not look like much, but the last few years there's always something interesting that's going on here." Stinkie assured her with what she assumed was a charming grin for him. Either that or a sinister smirk. With a ghost it could be either one.

"The foods not bad here either." Fatso added in jovially, licking his lips hungrily.

"Oh look who it is boys." Stretch added with a snicker at an incoming figure. The other two chuckled in amusement as they followed the look of their partner.

Buffy looked up as she saw a guy that looked kind of familiar, as if she had known him a long time ago or seen him before in some half forgotten memory. The only thing that she could think of though was of her first day of Sunnydale High for some reason.

"You want us to get rid of the Fleshie?" Stinkie asked her.

"You got another way to order food?" She asked the ghost. The spirit looked like it wanted to pout, but nodded his head in agreement with her logic.

"How do you do?" Duke greeted the blonde. "As the proprietor of the Grey Gull what can I offer you in the way of nourishment? He asked, while flashing her a charming smile.

Buffy smiled as she looked the guy over. Messy brown hair and eyes along with a bit of scruffy facial hair made the guy look like something of a rascal. "Four of your local brews, a lobster, and three of your biggest ice cream sundaes."

The man raised his brow slightly at the order. "You got it." Duke returned, as he headed back to the bar and began barking out orders for the requested items.

"So I take it that your planning on some after dinner entertainment?" Stinkie teased the Slayer.

"Do you blame me?" Buffy asked the ghost as her eyes followed after the guy. "He's got that kind of bad boy look to him." She explained defensively.

"Ah, why you want to waste your time with a Fleshie I'll never know." Stretch lamented. "At least when you were doing vamps you were moving a step in the right direction. True your particular choices weren't that great but its not like you had a whole lot of good choices when it came to undead lovers. The first one brooded to much, and the second one started off bad." He told her knowingly. "I don't think you even want to consider hearing what it is that the Doc would say if he found out about your dating history.

Considering what his daughter is I'd rather he not find out anytime soon. Buffy ordered the trio. She had spent years listening to people judge her on her choice of romantic partners. She really didn't need the dad of a newly found slayer jumping on the wagon. Knowing him as she did she was pretty sure that he would make her talk about how unhealthy both relationships had been.

The Ghostly Trio nodded accepting that it was none of their business about her past love life. "He's right, Stinkie noted, "I mean, you need to get him bloody before he's worth anything." He continued nodding towards Duke with a look of disgust. "He's totally dependent on the power of others."

Buffy rolled her eyes, of course the Ghostly Trio couldn't just take her to a normal food place. "What did you guys drag me into?" She asked her new friends curiously.

"Well you see, this little town is a nice place on the surface, but underneath it has a rather odd thing to it. Haven has all sorts of curses or something like, on all of the people. They come and go for a while. Every generation the curses come back up though. There's one family that can cause storms."

"Another that turns animals into Fleshies if they try and kill them." Stinkie chortled amusedly.

"What about the guys that can't feel pain? Their always fun to watch." Fatso reminded the others. "Remember that kid that was sledding around that time?" The other two snickered at the memory.

"How about the family that are all bullets magnets? Whenever a gun is fired those guys are going to be the targets no matter if they were aimed at or not."

"So in other words, for you guys this town is entertainment?" Buffy stated with annoyance. Deadly experiences that could happen at any moment and it was in no way their fault if someone died when someone's powers were going crazy. It was beginning to sound a lot like the Hellmouth. She supposed that she should have expected that her new friends would have been big fans of irony and gallows humor that places like this seemed to inspire. She didn't know what she had been expecting from the group. Besides maybe this place had really good food.

"Here you go." Duke offered with a grin as he set the drinks, ice cream, and lobster down in front of the bar. Buffy smiled her thanks, and quickly began eating. She really hoped that the brothers didn't do anything that would get her kicked out. The brothers began eating, and Buffy grimaced as she saw that the ice cream was being chewed and eaten, but it still fell through the bodies of her new friends. "You guys know how gross that is?" She asked them curiously.

"Thank you." The Trio Chorused causing Buffy's lips to twitch slightly.

"If I had known you were the kind with quick digestive track and the runs I would have suggested we eat outside." Buffy told them with a smirk that caught the Trio off guard. There weren't many that could mouth off at them with that particular skill. Most people were simply to intimidated by them. In fact in the last decade only Kat and some witches had the guts to do it. Considering that Kat had been a potential though, they figured that gave her an excuse. As for witches well they were some of the only beings willing to stand up to ghosts.

"Sorry Slayer, we just got so excited that we forgot." Stretch explained. "Its not often someone buys us food while at a restaurant."

"I can't imagine why." Buffy returned, as she wiped some of the ice cream off of her plate that had spilled on there.

Well that, and its fun to watch the Fleshies or Casper clean up the messes that we make." Fatso added in getting laughs from all of the ghosts.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the Trio. "Try not to cause any more problems while I finish eating and try and figure a way to explain this away." She ordered as she finally started working her way through the food. The ghosts chuckled as they found places around the bar to hover and watch the bar. She smiled weakly as she saw a stunned Duke walk by and stare at the mess around her. "Don't ask, because trust me you don't want to know." She assured him.

"I'm good at not asking questions." Duke returned, while flashing her a smile as he went to go and retrieve a mop. It figured that one of the prettiest girls that he had seen in a while turned out to be Troubled. He mused to himself. It seemed like all of the Troubled usually made their way through his business eventually. Once he was done cleaning up he sat to talk with the girl. Whatever her trigger was it seemed that she had fairly decent control seeing as she hadn't caused any other damage except for the ice cream sundae mess. He even found himself enjoying his talks about the various parts of the world that he had been to as opposed the various parts of the US that the girl had traveled. It was an interesting conversation. When problems did eventually start they weren't from her. They came from some of the diners that had to much. Unfortunately for him these people happened to be a known Troubled, which, meant that they didn't like him all that much. Jack Eliot could cause a freezing sensation just by grabbing someone. Kelly Hight on the other hand could cause wood to move and reshape itself. The there was Andrew Williams, a guy that could cause all sorts of bone spiked barbs to erupt his arms. Not as cool as say pulling bone daggers, but still dangerous to be around.

One of them had gotten mad about something and soon the two were fighting. A icy fist shattered a wooden device and the two were going at it while a bony figure kept popping and delivering punches to both sides. Soon others had joined in and they were all fighting.

"Somebody call the police." Duke told his people in the back, as another threw him a bat. "Hey, that's enough. You want to cause problems do it outside." He ordered the group of brawlers. As he was flinging them outside he was flung outside and knocked to the ground. He looked up to John Phillips a guy that could make doubles of himself that usually moved around like Locusts. What are you doing here John?

"The Guard want's you dealt with Crocker." The man explained, as five versions of him rushed at the bar owner.

Duke grimaced as he heard that bit of information even as his eyes darted towards the bared arms of all of the fighters, where the celtic tattoo could be seen on all of their forearms. Great, if had known that all of these guys were members of the Guard he would have called the police first and tried to stay inside the safety of his bar. He also would have chosen a better weapon than a bat. Like the shotgun he kept under the bar.

The Guard was a secret society of Troubled people that did all sorts of things. In some cases they did things like provided an Underground Railroad for Troubled people when their powers started to activate. Seeing as how most Troubles were triggered by some sort of emotional event when you added in the powers that came a lot of people usually went spiraling into various forms of depression that allowed their powers to stay active. There were the ones that were lucky and were able to keep living normal lives. There was another much darker side of the Guard though. A side of the Guard that did things like executions of people because they were in the way. They instigated jail breaks and for the most part had a more than decent control over parts of the town. Which was why no one seemed to notice what they were doing to him.

He turned to see that the fighters from earlier were now gathering around as well. Ah this is going to hurt. Duke complained as he realized that he had been set up for this beating. Evidently he had done something new to irritate the group. Considering the company he kept that wasn't to unexpected though. He did wonder how far they had been told that they were to go. Andrew Williams was tackled and the blonde he had been chatting up had entered the fight. The girl grinned as she rose to her feet as she looked at the group. He was surprised when he realized that she had somehow managed to avoid all of Williams bone barbs in the tackle. Those sorts of moves took a lot of skills. Skills that he didn't think that anybody really had.

"Okay, last and only chance guys. She warned the group. "If we're going to do this then there is likely going to be blood, pain, and possibly even the addition of dirty words. it's not as nice as people like to make you think." She explained to them. "If you walk away though we don't have to worry about it though." She offered the members of the Guard.

Duke couldn't help the chuckle that escaped from his bloody lips. It was just amusing the way she was trying to talk them down. The wary way she was watching them all though showed that she didn't completely believe that they would take her offer up and walk away. At least this was going to fun. He mused to himself as he climbed up to his feet. Maybe they would get lucky and some other help would show up as well. Not that he was going to be holding his breath on that one though.

The members of the Guard scowled at the intruder and made to attack her. The blonde smiled as she kicked one of the clones away, while she flipped another one over her shoulder. "You guys really shouldn't have gone to all this trouble of making this a fun trip." She scolded them as if they had thrown her a surprise party instead of her getting involved in a fight.

Duke couldn't help the grin on his face as the fight really got started. Except for a few tussles with various people, he hadn't been in a bar fight since the Troubles had come back. Regular people didn't want to get on his bad side and Troubled people didn't really want to fight him for their own reason. Add that in with owning a decent business and it was starting to make him seem respectable. Maybe they all needed to be reminded just who and what Duke Crocker really was. He was also pretty sure that he could hear some voices cheering them on from somewhere even if he couldn't see whoever it was.

He punched one of them in the mouth and saw a bloody lip and grinned a bit as he felt the surge of power that he always got when one of the Troubled bled on him. It was his ability. Whenever a Troubled person bled on him it was like someone had shot him full of adrenaline or something. He was also faster and stronger than a person could believe. That was only the first half of his ability though. The other half of his ability was that if someone with an ability was killed by him while he was charged up he somehow took the ability away from the family bloodline as well. He didn't really understand it he just knew what happened.

What followed next was a massacre, as the two fighters tore through the members of the Guard. The panting pair grinned a bit as the last two people fell to the ground leaving just the two of them. "Alright, you seriously know how to show a girl a good time." Buffy told the man. My friends were also right in saying you've got great food." She added in with a smile.

"Well what can I say, we got the food and entertainment just wait until we get to the desert part of the day." Duke added with a suggestive smirk, as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

Buffy smiled as she cocked her head to the side and tapped her finger on her chin speculatively as she looked Duke up and down. "Hmm, I'm thinking that I should hang around here for at least a few more hours." She confessed to him. "That way you can show me these things. Besides I seem to be working my appetite back up." She added in with a mischievous smirk. Before Duke could respond, they saw a battered looking police truck pull up. Of course now they get here. Duke grumbled out darkly as he watched the doors open to allow two people out.

A dark haired man with a nearly an impassive face and a pretty blonde woman close to Buffy's age climbed out of the truck. The pair looked at the crowd of fallen people before looking towards the pair that were still standing up. "Duke, what have you gotten into this time?" The dark haired man asked in annoyance as his greeting.

"Oh come on Nathan, you pull up and automatically think is my fault? What about all that crap about probable cause, or innocent until proven guilty? Unless you skipped out on the days that they were talking about those." Duke shot at the man with equal annoyance.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she sidled up next to the other blonde woman. "So let me guess. Officer Cardboard there was the geek that Duke used to pick on in High School?" She guessed as she watched the pair. The way that the two were mouthing off at each other kind of reminded her of the times that she had watched Angel and Spike verbally spar with each other. That or maybe Xander and Cordellia.

The blonde woman smirked in agreement with the assessment that the other woman had just given. "Personally I just think neither one of them wants to admit that they're more alike than either wants to believe and that they consider each other as friends." She returned with a grin. "Maybe even best friends." She added in.

"Yeah I know the type." Buffy assured her with a matching grin, as she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "Well maybe not the besties part, but the having more in common than they want to admit. I had two ex boyfriends that are like them. Did they spend time as enemies as well?" She asked the woman curiously.

"Well Nathan is a cop and Duke is a smuggler." The woman explained to her with a wink.

"Gotchya." Buffy nodded in understanding.

"I'm Detective Audrey Parker, and that's my partner Nathan Wuornos, Haven Police Department." The woman introduced herself while offering her hand.

"Buffy Summers." The other blonde returned with a wary smile. Her abd cops had a rather sporadic relationship. The fact that Cops usually tried to either arrest or shoot her since she had become the Rider made things a bit more problematic. At least as far as she was concerned. The Rider tried to leave Cops alone unless they wouldn't leave it alone. Then it judged them just like everyone else. Hell, the only Cops that she had liked so far had been the Texas Rangers.

"So, you want to tell me what's going on while those two do whatever it is that they're doing?" Audrey pleaded of the other woman. "It might even mean that we can miss some of this." She added in enticingly.

"What, skip the whole male insult-a-thon while acting like you don't care even while you're secretly making sure there's nothing wrong with them?" Buffy asked with fake shock. "I don't know if I could stand to miss out on that." She pondered sarcastically.

The blonde woman found herself grinning in appreciation. "Ah good, you really do understand then." Audrey returned pulling out a notepad, and gestured for the woman to give her statement.

The blonde shrugged as she let the woman see her ID. "There was a bar fight, so Duke was kicking them out, and having his people call you guys. When he got outside the twins times five decided that it would be a good time to help their friends." Buffy explained. "Although it seems only one of the brothers remained to take the blame. She told her blandly.

"Uh huh." Audrey returned, knowing exactly what a cloner could do. The fact that this woman hadn't even hesitated in giving her a bull crap answer made her wonder just who pr even what she was.

Buffy continued unaware that the cop wasn't completely buying her tale. "I didn't really think it was fair to gang up on Duke like that. I mean a cute guy like that shouldn't have all of the stuffing beat out of him like that. so I gave him a hand with them and this happened."

"Right, well I guess we can take these guys in for lockup." Audrey returned. "Once we can get those two to stop arguing long enough that is." She added with a tired roll of her eyes as she approached the pair of men that were still sniping at each other.

"Well you know guys and their Bromance." Buffy returned with a shrug as she the pair moved back towards the guys. The two women watched for a moment as they went back and forth with insults. "Are they really arguing about something that happened in High School?" She questioned in disbelief as she listened to them.

"Yep." Audrey returned as she cuffed the unconscious members of the Guard.

"They have two hot blondes standing here, one in leather and another with handcuffs and that's what they'd rather do?" Buffy asked, shaking her head a bit. "Are you sure they're not gay or something? Not that I have anything against gays. Just asking."

Audrey snorted at that idea. "I have honestly never asked them if they have some sort of sexual tension between them. It would explain some things about them though." She mused out loud where the two could hear her.

"Hey!" The arguing pair shouted, turning to look at her with a combination of disgust and hurt that she would say such things about them.

"I mean it would explain some of those interrogations." Audrey continued, smirking at the two men who were now blushing at the ideas that she was bringing up. "Maybe that's why we don't normally take Duke into normal interrogation room, you don't trust yourselves to be alone in the same room." She added twisting the knife in just a bit more. "Unless of course you were caught by your dad and he made it a point that you had to question him at that table?" She asked Nathan curiously.

"With or without the cuffs?" Buffy asked with interest, she had to admit she was enjoying this. She was so glad that she had found a cop that actually had a sense of humor.

"Oh good point." Audrey a nod.

"Audrey, if we promise to not ignore you for our fights, will you please stop." Nathan pleaded desperately.

"Yes Audrey, please stop." Duke begged, even though he was still shooting dirty looks at Nathan.

"Huh, I wish I had known it was that easy to get you two to pay attention to me before. Audrey returned to the pair with a smirk. "Thank you." She told the blonde biker. "This could make my life so much easier."

"Always a pleasure." Buffy returned with a smirk. She walked up to Duke and looked him over. "So, interested in proving that your not in love with the detective?" She questioned curiously as she jerked her head at the man. "I had a friend that liked to refer to this the after effects of a good fight." Her mind flashing to Faith and her H&H theory on what a good fight made a Slayer want to do.

"Oh hell yes." Duke agreed. "After what you and Audrey said, I need some different scenery." He told her as he offered her his hand. "Come on, I'll show you my ship." He offered while flashing a grin at the blonde. As for you Nathan have fun filling out your paperwork and all that. He added with a smirk towards the dumbfounded detective, as he began to pull the girl away.

Buffy waved to the lawmen as she was dragged off. "I may or may not see you later." She told them with a matching grin. "Nice meeting you Audrey." She called

"Yeah you to." Audrey told the young woman with a shake of her head as she watched them disappear.

"Sexual Tension between me and Duke?" Nathan questioned her in a disgusted tone while glaring at her. "Was that really necessary?" He demanded of his partner.

"Hey, it worked." Audrey countered him smugly. "Now lets get these guys somewhere where their not doing something to endanger the secrecy." She reminded him of the group of Troubled lying on the ground.

"So wait, I have to load these guys up, do paperwork over a bar fight at Duke's, and probably deal with the politics while Duke goes to have time with a blonde biker?" Nathan asked in disbelief. "Are you sure I can't haul him in for something?" He practically pleaded of her. "If he can make my day bad, then I should be allowed to return the favor." He tried to reason.

"Sorry, you don't have a good enough reason." Audrey returned with a smile. "Also, you should really stop thinking about what Duke is getting ready to do." She added with a mischievous grin, which caused Nathan to scowl at her in return. He did turn around and start helping her haul the unconscious Guard members into the truck though.

The Ghostly Trio were invisible as they watched the cops cart the Guard away. "So Sarah is back and doing her do gooder thing again." Stretch noted. "Might as well enjoy the town while you can boys, you remember what a buzzkill she was in her last life."

"And Lucy in the one before that." Stinkie grumbled.

"And the one before that." Fatso added as he glared at the woman that was oblivious to their presence. "It doesn't look like her time in the barn has helped any."

"Yeah, she used to be fun. Now she's all about helping people and stuff. Stinkie grumbled. "She's just boring now."

"Hey, you guys think that the Teagues are still here?" Stretch asked with interest. 'They were always fun to scare."

"The newsboys? Well it couldn't hurt particularly since our guest decided to play with locals in her own way." The ghosts nodded as they headed into only took them a matter of minutes to find the old newspaper office.

They slipped into the newspaper building and looked the place over. The place was a mess of boxes of papers pictures, and computer equipment lying all over the place. Two men were seated in the middle of the organized chaos. One was a large man with gray hair that reached down to his shoulders with a wrinkled visage, and a rather noticeable paunch to his gut. In his youth he had probably been an imposing figure that had caused many a man to stop and think about crossing him. Age had caught up with him though. The other was a much shorter man who was slim, had a wring of hair around a large bald dome and wore thick glasses.

"Man, did you Fleshies ever get old." Stretch noted with mock concern as they became visible.

"You three." Vincent Teague scowled angrily as he saw beings that he would have preferred had stayed in his past." The large man really didn't want these beings back in his life. "What are you doing back here. Didn't you cause enough problems the last time you were here?" He demanded of the group.

"Vince, Baby, Fleshie," Stretch greeted ignoring the less than pleased tone that they were receiving. "You know us, we never could resist a good show and the Troubles is one of the best shows. Even if it does only come every few decades. We thought we'd stop by and say hello though, while a traveling friend of ours is busy with some of the locals youse gots around here."

Vince scowled but didn't bother trying to do anything to them. "What monstrosity did you bring into our town during these times?" He demanded of them.

"Oh we just invited a friend that goes by the handle of the Rider." Stinkie replied to him.

"Audrey will stop whatever you have planned." Dave shot off confidently as he adjusted his glasses to glare at the Ghosts.

"Doubtful, or did you forget that she can still be affected by powers that aren't caused by Troubles." Stretch taunted the pair of men. The two men glowered at the Ghosts at that reminder. "Because trust us, our new friend didn't even know that the troubles existed before today. That don't mean they ain't got power all of their own though."

"Yeah, there's also the fact Sarah, or Audrey, or whatever she's calling herself and our friend are now friends as well." Fatso added in with a leer.

"Come on boys we gots some shows to take in before old whatshername tries to cancel them." Stretch ordered. The Trio cackled as they zipped through a wall.

"This is serious, Audrey could be in real danger." Dave worried.

"Yes, and we can't do anything about it." Vince noted to his brother. "There's no way that she'll believe that there are ghosts sightseeing through town and that they're far more dangerous than she believes." The two men frowned as they tried to figure out what else could happen.

* * *

Buffy smiled as she stretched out like a cat. Yeah Duke had made her a believer into his not being in love with the other detective. Well at least not Detective Wurnos. The jury was still out on Detective Parker. Gathering her things she hopped into the shower when she came out she couldn't find her clothes so she borrowed one of Duke's shirts. She found her clothes drying on a clothesline on deck, she scurried over and began retrieving her clothes.

"So your alive." Duke noted from where he was siting on a deck chair and drinking from a bottle. "Your not going to threaten to shoot me are you? Cause that's what Audrey did when she found out I did her laundry the first time around."

Buffy shook her head in amusement as she slipped into her clothes wondering what the story behind that was, and if she could manage to pry it out of him. She somehow doubted it. The two detectives and Duke reminded her a lot of what the Scoobies used to be. She wondered if she could convince Phoebe to talk the Doc into the belief of the supernatural. Cause having a mind specialist that didn't do mind spells on either end of the coast could be useful. She mused to herself. Then again Phoebe would want her to talk about some of the issues that she still had from her time on the Hellmouth. Something that she would so rather not be doing. She was interrupted from her thoughts as she sensed someone behind her. Turning she saw her boss. "Why is it you always show up at bad times?" She hissed at him unhappily.

"Not my fault or my problem." Mephistoles returned to her with a shrug. "I have a new job for you a few states over."

Buffy nodded her head at that. She had kind of been expecting that. So, where are you sending me now?" She asked him curiously.

"New York. There are a lot of rogue souls that belong to me that need to be brought in. Not all unlike your new friends only more feral."

"Evil ghosts?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Something like that. Just be prepared for a lot of interference once you get there. New York has its own protectors right now. Some of them that believe themselves to be experts in Paranormal beings. Not all that unlike your friend with the Slayer daughter."

"Right." Buffy returned doing her best to ignore the thought that the demon might have his eyes on some of the friends that she had made while traveling. She picked her jacket up and when she looked back up she saw that he was gone. "I really hate how he manages to do that." She grumbled. She came back around and saw an oblivious Duke still sitting there. They exchanged a quick kiss. "Well as fun as this has been. I mean seriously, food, fighting, sex. It was all good and I might be tempted to swing back through here later. I just got a summons for my job and I have to get going." She told him regretfully.

"Really, I can't convince you to stay one more day?" Duke suggested with a grin, as he pulled her back down to another more forceful kiss.

Buffy groaned before she broke the kiss off. "I wish, but he'll know some way or other. He's got me on some Hellish type of GPS." She explained to him.

Duke nodded his acceptance of that. "Where are you heading?" He questioned curiously.

"New York." Buffy told him with an apologetic grin. "Wish I could have stayed longer, but my boss is a fan of the last minute changes to the schedule. I think he personally gets a kick out of it just to see me rush from place to place."

"That's why I'm self employed." Duke returned with a careless grin.

"Yeah, but I owe him." Buffy returned with a shrug. "Not to mention there's a contract. Once the balance is settled though I am so leaving him and his job."

"Well maybe when its all done you can come back through here." Duke offered. "I can guarantee food and sex, as for the fight, well if you hang around me and the people I know long enough I'm sure that we can find you some of those." He assured her. "I've made it an art form of getting people mad at me."

"Yeah, I haven't made people hate me here." Buffy returned optimistically. "Course by the time I come back you may have yourself some honey that will have taken your mind off beautiful blondes." She added with a smirk.

"Doubtful." Duke returned determinedly.

Buffy smiled as she jumped off the boat only to find herself looking into the stony face of a couple,of older men. "Uh hi." She greeted them. She looked around and noticed that the dock was fairly quiet except for a lot of people pretending not to watch her.

"You must be Duke's new friend." The big guy declared. "I understand you saved him from getting roughed up earlier."

"What can I say, I was being a good Samaritan." Buffy returned.

"Hey Buffy, Detective Audrey Parker greeted as she saw the group. "Vince, Dave." She greeted the two men.

"Audrey." The two men greeted her without meeting her eyes.

The blonde woman narrowed her eyes at the men. "So what's going on?" She questioned them in a sweet honey filled voice.

"No idea. They were just asking me about Dukes bar fight." Buffy explained to her.

Audrey rolled her eyes at that. "The problem of being a small town and being on a first name basis with the owners, operators, and everything in between of the local paper." Audrey explained to her. "That and it gives them excuses to be nosey old men that can look into everyone's business without getting to much trouble by yelling freedom of the press or something similar." She added in. The teasing quality of her voice took any sting out of her words.

"Oh cool." A relieved Buffy replied. "Well anyways, I just got a call from my boss, so I have to get going."

"Oh really already?" One of the brothers asked.

"Yeah its part of the joy of being who and what I am." Buffy explained to them. "The boss likes to send me weird places."

"And did he send you here?" Vince wondered.

"Nah, I was meeting some guys for food here, other than that nothing. Although it does have some good things to it." She added. She would have said more except she was ambushed from behind. A brunette girl had tackled her and Buffy screamed as she felt pain all over her body where flesh touched flesh. Acting on instinct she lashed out and sent her attacker flying.

"Jordan, what are you doing?" Audrey demanded, as she glared at the woman Buffy had sent tumbling about twenty or thirty feet.

"The Guard wants her out of town, its my job to see at she leaves. Besides can you imagine the damage Crocker could do with someone like her on his side?" The brunette woman explained as she climbed gingerly to her feet. "Now get lost." She demanded, as she shoved past Audrey. Jordan had a rather strange ability. She could touch someone and induce pain wherever her skin touched them. Normally she wore gloves and long sleeves, but when she wanted to hurt someone the gloves literally came off.

Buffy was still on her knees and hurting from whatever it was that the other woman had done to her. She looked up at the woman that was approaching her.

"You can leave, or I can offer you another dose." Jordan offered as she held her hands up. "All the strength in the world won't save you from me."

"Now I'm pissed." Buffy noted as she painfully climbed to her feet. She hadn't been this hurt in a long time. Probably not since her first encounter with Caleb or one of the Turok Han Vampires. The fact that it was a girl that she had never met though gave her a target, and she was going to make her pay. She needed to learn what happened to people that tried to get into it with her. Everyone noticed the rage in the blonde's eyes. Several of them stepped back slightly as they realized that she was now surrounded by flames that were rising all arounder her.

Audrey reached for he phone at her side. "Nathan, get down to Duke's boat now!" She ordered her partner. "We have a situation." She then turned to look at the angry blonde woman. "Look, you just need to calm down." She tried to reason.

Buffy ignored the detective and focused on her attacker. "You messed with the wrong person. Let me show you what happens when you decide to play outside your weight class." She felt the familiar burning sensation as the Rider began to take control. Unlike other times she had been hurt she didn't hold it back. Besides, she figured she owed it for letting the Slayer do the last hunt.

"Oh dear." Vince mumbled, as he and his brother began backing away from what was quickly becoming a nightmarish like creature.

"You don't think that this is what the Brothers were telling us about do you?" Dave asked nervously, as he watched skin and muscle melt away to leave a fiery skeleton in its place.

"Its a possibility." Vince admitted, as his eyes flicked towards the motorcycle that had the girl had been heading towards. To think they had been content if she was to ride out on her own but thanks to Jordan they were now in this mess.

_"Lets do this."_ The flaming skeleton hissed out, as it made a beckoning motion with its hand towards a fear frozen Jordan.

Audrey swallowed nervously as she tried to remain calm in front of the burning figure. She situated herself in-between the pair, and held her hands up in a placating manner. "Come on, everyone needs to take a step back and calm down." She suggested, hoping that they could stop this before anything bad happened. She had to admit Buffy remionded her more of something out of nightmare than anything else. She had never seen a transformation this severe before.

The Rider ignored the blonde as it darted past her and grabbed Jordan by the throat. Buffy didn't even seemed to be affected by her ability anymore. Then again as a skeleton it didn't have to worry about things like nerves and skin to skin contact. _"Guilty."_ The creature snarled at its captive, as flames seemed to wash all over her body.

Jordan screamed, as pain not unlike what she made her victims feel engulfed her entire body. The Rider then dropped her burnt body. It looked the others over curiously as if it couldn't decide just what they were. "Liars and Schemers." It hissed, as it stared at the brothers. The two men traded looks as they realized that the creature could somehow tell just what it was that they had done in the past. As if it could see their very sins.

It then looked at Audrey. "Repentant One." It then raised its hands and a wave of fire hit all three of them. When the flames died they were all suffering from burns on various parts of their bodies. Nowhere near as severe as the ones that Jordan had though. Duke wasn't sure what he was seeing as he watched the skeleton take down all four of them like they were nothing. He wondered if he could get some blood in time to stop this thing. He saw several Guard members try to approach it only to get knocked aside as if they weren't worth its time. It approached Buffy's bike, and he watched as it changed into some sort of monstrous analogue of what it had been earlier.

Everyone heard the sound of applause, catcalls, and whistling from up above. The inhabitants of Haven turned their heads to see where it was coming from. "What an act." A voice cheered down on the devastation that the unknown had just torn through the group as three strange looking creatures appeared around the Rider. The Ghostly Trio had come back for the closing finale.

"Way to go." Stinkie complimented, as he looked around at the damage that the Rider had caused.

"Yeah, I'll give you the full 10 points for that one." Fatso agreed.

"Yeah, if you didn't spend some of your time as a Fleshie I'd ask you out." Stretch told the Rider appreciably as his eyes darted around in admiration. And to think, you've only had this gig for around a year or so." He complimented her.

New York. The creature hissed back at them.

Its that away. The Ghosts explained as they all pointed in the general direction that one would need to take. It would also take the Rider right down the Main Street of the small town.

"Be sure to tell the green guy that we said hello." Fatso added in.

With a roar the Rider revved the engine and moved forward. The motorcycle left a flaming tire trail behind it, while the Ghostly Trio flew behind it.

Nathan who had already incoming shifted the police car so that he was now chasing after the flaming monstrosity that had just taken off. He didn't know what kind of trouble Audrey had gotten herself into, but he was sure that he would need to track the figure down if for no other reason so that she could calm them down or whatever it was that was needed this time around.

"Man, I just can't find a normal girl in this town can I?" Duke complained as he ran his hand through his hair before he jumped over the edge of his boat and went about checking the injuries of all of the people that had been hurt by the girl. If he didn't already know that he had an ability, he would wonder if that was his. The power to attract psycho girlfriends. Of course if that was the case, he probably would have dated Jordan as well. He sure felt sorry for the shmuck that had a power like that. He also knew that there were going to be people that tried to blame him for this as well. His ability just made him extremely disliked by anyone that he wanted to associate with.

* * *

"What happened?" Audrey asked from her hospital bed a few hours later.

"You tried to mess with something that wasn't a Troubled person." Vincent explained from where he was sitting in a nearby chair. "Not that its your fault since Jordan attacked the person responsible for putting half of the best fighters in the Guard and yourself in the hospital." He grumbled.

Audrey nodded wincing as she sat herself up. "Where's Nathan?"

"Gone to get some coffee." The brown haired man explained from the doorway, as he held up two cups for them to see.

"We all got our asses kicked when Jordan attacked Duke's latest conquest." Nathan explained to her grimly. By the time he went and got a weapon everybody was already out and the Rider was gone." HE explained to her.

"Rider?" Audrey questioned curiously.

"Yeah the Rider, they've been traveling across the US." He explained as he showed her a file that had reports of the Rider destroying large sections of multiple towns. Each town that had been visited had a red dot along with the date listed under it. "Normally big towns to. San Antonio, Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco, and had jumped the Canadian border to visit Port Columbia." NAthan pointed out.

Audrey nodded as she read the report. Haven would be the second small town that it had shown up in. Considering how effortlessly the girl had torn through them she wasn't really looking forward to seeing what would happen if normal people would have looked like against this person. "Any idea where she went?" Audrey asked, wincing again as she felt the various burns on her body stretch her skin.

"No, but I have given her an approach with caution." Nathan added.

The blonde nodded her thanks to him. "How was I hurt?" Audrey asked Vincent. "Its always been a thing about me is that i've never been affected by the Troubles no matter what." She reminded him. "So how was I burned like you guys?" She asked, nodding to the heavy bandages the other men were wearing.

The large man looked Audrey over as if trying to decide what to tell her. "You were hurt Audrey, because whatever that girl was she wasn't Troubled. She was something else, and something more dangerous than even what we're used to." He informed her solemnly.

"Well we can't go chasing after her even if we suspect we know where she's going. She's wanted for questioning for things that was as far as I felt was safe. We could say we suspect her of being the Rider." Nathan suggested to the others.

"And when someone thinking she's a harmless biker with a flare for dramatics goes after her?" Audrey pointed out to him. "No, we have to wait for her to let herself be known and try and figure out what we can do to help and protect people from her."

"Try not pissing her off would be my suggestion." Duke piped in from where he was leaning against the wall his face fyrrowed with concern for the woman stuck on the bed.

"You know what the worst part about it all is?" Audrey asked the others.

"What might that be Audrey?" Dave asked her curiously.

"I actually kind of liked her." She admitted to the group.

"Not as much as I liked her." Duke assured her with a knowing grin. "That girl had muscles, flexibility, humor, and staying power." He told them with a dopey grin. His eyes glazed over as he thought about their time together.

"Only you would be able to bed the one girl that was like that." Nathan returned with a shake of his head at his old rival in annoyance. What bugged him the most about it was that Duke didn't even seem to be the least bit repentant about the person that he had brought into their lives.

"Don't make me get Buffy's threat out you two. Particularly with these two here." Audrey cut in with a smirk, as she waved at the two newsmen.

"Is there something that we should know?" Vince asked curiously, looking back and forth between the two men and Audrey.

"It's your responsibility to tell the press these sorts of things you know." Dave added in somewhat officially.

"You do remember that the last time that you used that threat nearly started this whole thing right?" Nathan asked her curiously.

"Hey, you may want to chance the gossip mongrels with that one but not me." Duke returned to him as he held his hands up in surrender. "You win." He conceded to Audrey. At least I can get some good dirt on you."

"Thanks guys." Audrey told the Teagues with a grin.

* * *

The actor that portrays Duke happens to be the same actor that played Jesse McNally in the first episode of Buffy.


	17. NYC I

Well this update didn't take as long. I'm sure that you're all relieved on that. Ghostbusters is a Columbia Pictures, Ghost Rider is Marvel, and BTVS is Joss.

* * *

The Ghost Rider came to a stop in front of the welcome to New York street sign. It looked at the large city that it could sense its latest target from. The taste of the spirits was so nearby that it could practically taste the souls that were waiting for it to grab. It looked over to where Mephistopheles seemed to appear between the flickering lights of the various vehicles that were passing by.

"I see that you made good time." Mephistopheles noted with a grin. "Even managed to keep most of the property damage down this time even. He added in mockingly.

_"Scratch."_ The Rider growled out in warning.

"Yes, yes." Mephistopheles returned, waving the annoyed Slayer Rider off without concern. "Here is where you'll find your new target." He explained, as he held out a piece of paper to his servant.

The Rider took the paper and read out the name that was written. _"Ghostbusters."_ It snarled out, as it read the paper.

"Yes, it seems that several of the Rogue and Wandering Spirits that belong to me have run afoul of these humans and gone and gotten themselves trapped within their devices. That's where those wandering spirits that belong to me and are hiding within the supposed safety of the Ghostbusters vault. Find them and bring them back to me." Mephistopheles ordered to her. "Show these humans what happens to those that try and cheat me of what is mine as well." He added, his eyes flashing with anger at someone having managed to try and deny him of the souls that were his due. No one got away with trying to do that. He would show these fools what happened to those that interfered in things that did not concern them.

The Slayer Rider snorted out some flames in irritation, but nodded its head in agreement with the order as it turned back towards the bike. Once mounted the Slayer Rider tore through the streets of New York. It had a mission to accomplish. Flaming tire treads trailed behind it as it zipped through the large city intent on finding the souls that Mephistoles had ordered that it bring in. Its senses screamed at it, as it felt the trail that the souls had left and where it needed to go. Fire and destruction followed behind the Slayer Rider, as it roared through the streets of the city.

Police cars having been alerted to the unexpected phenomenon were already converging on the path that the Rider seemed to be taking. Several of the hotspots that weird things usually happened had people diverting to these locations in an attempt to stop the latest bout of weirdness that was currently in their city. The police of New York had gotten rather used to dealing somewhat strange cases over the years.

A road block was set up and weapons were aimed towards where word was that the strange thing was tearing through the streets of New York would be. The various uniformed people watched as the fiery creature suddenly appeared around a corner. It moved straight at the crowd of officers. The police opened fire and watched as the various bullets ripped into the creature and didn't seem to cause any damage. The motorcycle then did something amazing as it somehow rode alongside of one of the buildings. Melted glass and bits of siding fell to the ground as it moved past. A moment later and it was past them.

"What now?" One of the men asked in disbelief, trying to figure out how to rationalize what he had just seen happen.

"We pursue." Another cop growled. "Word is that it's just someone with too much time on their hands. It's nothing more than that. Now let's go." What followed was a quick car chase that had them trying to keep up with the strange creature.

The Slayer Rider managed to lose the group of cops and focused on a mall. It kicked the bike stand down and walked towards where it felt that the spirits should be. Spirits like these should be all over the city, but there was nothing. It was quickly becoming irritated it smashed its fist through a wall. With a growl it got back on the bike and headed for the next place.

"Somebody call in some help!"

"Oh yeah, there's a giant fiery freak tearing up the mall who do you call?" Someone shouted.

"Ghostbusters." A man yelled out in reply.

The Rider stopped before an old firehouse that was three stories tall. A sign overhead flickered in the night with a white being crossed out in red. The Rider got off the bike and stomped up to the giant wooden doors. It then swung its fist and shattered the doors like they were cheap thin wooden slats. The Rider walked through the giant hole. Ignoring the large white car with various devices and lights on it that sat in the garage, it forced its way into the office area. A group that had been in the office area all turned to look at the intruder that had entered the building. There were four men in flight suits that all stared in surprise at the new arrival along with them was a giant glowing floating green blob with a mouth arms and somewhat distinguishable face. It was about the size of a man's torso though. The final member was a middle aged woman with red hair and horn rimmed glasses.

"Whaa!" The green creature shouted, its eyes popping out of their sockets as it got a good look at the figure. "Wider." It exclaimed in fear. It then made a mad dash towards the nearest wall and sped through it.

"What is that thing?" One of the men asked in surprise, as he looked at the creature that had just forced its way into their building and scared off their unofficial mascot.

"Not sure." A dark skinned man returned, as they all looked at the fearsome invader that looked like something from a nighmare.

"Fascinating." The tallest man noted, as he pushed his glasses up to get a better look at the invading creature. The man actually seemed to be assessing and studying the monstrosity that had just broken into their home more than anything else, as if he couldn't comprehend the danger that it represented. He pulled out a strange boxy device and began waving it in the general direction of the Rider. "These readings are off the scale." He muttered. "I've never seen an entity capable of releasing readings like this. It's like nothing we've ever seen."

"Ah Egon, can we please not drool over the really scary and dangerous creature that looks like it could turn us all into BBQ?" Peter requested of his fellow Doctor and Ghostbuster. "I mean if it's all the same to you that is." He added in sarcastically to the genius.

_"Vault."_ The Rider demanded of the group of men. The flames that surrounded its body flared slightly in annoyance at the lack of fear that these people were showing it. If it needed to though, it could force them to tell.

"Downstairs." One of the men explained, nodding towards a pair of stairs that led downstairs. The Rider nodded as it stomped towards the stairs.

"Peter why did you tell it where the vault is?" One of the men complained to the dark haired man.

"Because I had intention of fighting something like that without my pack." Peter returned to the other man logically, as he turned around and followed after the creature.

This seemed to put the other man in his place as he seemed to realize that he didn't have certain items that he would normally have on him when confronting a supernatural being. They all followed behind the fiery creature, wondering just what it was doing in their place. Usually ghosts were stuck in traps before they ever made their way into the basement of their building, and the number of creatures that wanted to know where was pretty low. The men saw that the Rider was raising its hand and slamming it into the front of the vault. There was a loud clanging sound and there was a dent in the side of the heavy metal nuclear device.

"Ah Egon, just what is it that thing is trying to do?"

"Well Peter, while I have yet to actually understand what it is the readings are somewhat conflicted they are picking up both ectoplasm and biological matter coming from it."

"And why is that so interesting?"

"Because something is either composed of spectral energy or bio electric energy, one simply does not have both." Egon lectured his comrades. "Whatever this thing is, I've never seen anything like it before. It does make one wonder about some of the theories that its existence stands for though."

The others nodded along with the man. They had long gotten used to their comrade becoming excited by the prospect of the scientific study than the actual threat that the being actually represented to them or to others. "No offense to your studying and all, but what is it doing?" Peter finally demanded of the man.

"Hmmm?" Egon asked as he looked up at what the creature was attempting. "Oh, its trying to force the vault open." He noted idly. "Are there any cameras getting the footage of this thing? I might want to examine and review it later." He told the others.

"Force open the Vault?" A disturbed Winston questioned, as he looked toward the specially designed vault that held all of the supernatural beings that they had captured over the years. The idea of some of them being set free was not one that really appealed to any of them.

"All right, if it wants to get a look at the vault so badly I suggest we let it." Peter told the others. "From the inside." He suggested as they scrambled to one of the workbenches that was filled with proton packs. Each of the men slid the bulky backs onto their backs. One of the things they had yet to figure out how to do was to making the packs lighter despite all of the advances that technology had made. Part of this was due to their always being newer and stronger ghosts that they would have to deal with.

While they were doing this the Rider had placed its hands on the side of the vault and was trying to melt through it. Once the packs were on they flipped them to active and heard the familiar whine of activation.

"Hey Skull." Petter Venkman shouted out at the creature. "Why don't you try and melt through this." He challenged, as they each fired a blast from their Neutrino packs. The blasts slammed into the Rider and wrapped their beams of light around the creature. The beams danced around the creature and created multiple loops around the various limbs of the creature.

The Rider roared and struggled as it tried to break the hold that the bands of energy had on it. It released a breath of hellfire and they watched as the last bits of the vault were destroyed. There was a booming sound, as the pent up energy was released. The Ghostbusters stared at the somewhat familiar site of all of the various spirits that they had captured surged upward and away from their building and into New York.

"Now what?" Winston shouted fearfully.

"Forget about them, keep your hold on the big dog." Peter yelled back at him. "This one is not getting away from us. Ray if you would trap him." He requested of his friend.

"Right." Ray replied as he slid a rectangular box like object towards the angry spirit. The doors to the trap opened and the men watched as a light bathed the creature.

"Something's wrong." Egon shouted. The creatures is somehow fighting the trap. The others looked and saw that he was right. The creature was somehow seemingly unphased by the energy from the trap. "What's more it seemed to be getting angry." With a roar, it jerked its arms upwards and snapped the beams that held its arms. It then formed an ax like weapon in its hands and slashed through the bands holding its legs.

"Now what? It just resisted a trap and then it broke the beams and it's already broke the vault. What's next?" Ray asked worriedly.

"Simple Ray, we do what every good man does when faced with these sorts of odds." Egohn explained to his partner.

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"We run." Peter ordered, as he and Winston pushed the other two men towards the stairs and away from the creature. They made it outside where Janice was already standing and looked up as the last of the various ghosts dispersed.

"Looks like it's going to be a long night." Janice noted with distaste. "Did you at least get the one that caused all this damage?"

"Unfortunately no." Egon admitted, they all then watched as the Slayer Rider stormed out of the building. It was still holding its weapon and its eyes were following after the various spirits that were now flying over their heads. With a huff, the weapon seemed to disappear and the creature was mounting the giant motorcycle. It revved its engine and disappeared into the night.

"Should we follow it?" Ray asked the others eagerly.

"No!/affirmative." Peter and Egon responded.

"Peter are you joking, we need to follow after it and study it more."

"With what equipment Egon? That thing did just trash your lab and the Echo 1." The other man countered, as he nodded towards several burn marks on the barely visible white car.

"Not to mention we're probably about to get a lot of calls about the various ghosts that just broke out of containment." Winston added. "We need to do an equipment check, and then we need to track down those spirits before they cause too much damage."

"Yeah, maybe if we're lucky then that thing will be out there to." Peter told the others sarcastically, as he headed towards the firehouse so that they could begin to do inventory. "Egon, Ray start on the vault first. Winston and I will start working on getting Echo 1 up and running again. Janice hold all calls unless they're from the mayor, he'll probably want a date on what's going on here." The others nodded, as they quickly set to their individual tasks. They had to get everything back in fighting shape before everything imploded. It looked like it was going to be a long week for them.


	18. NYC II

One of the faster updates for this story. The newest additions are House M.D from Fox and Witchblade from Top Cow. Neither of which I own.

* * *

Buffy groaned slightly as she leaned against the counter of the bar. She didn't know what those guys had hit her with but she was still feeling the pain from whatever it was. She didn't know that there's was anything that could actually hurt her like that anymore. Come to think of it she didn't think she had ever been hurt this bad before. To make it worse she couldn't remember everything that had happened while she had been in her Rider form. Which was something that she had thought that she had gotten over. It had been a while since one of her missions caused her to black out. She remembered busting into Ghostbuster HQ blowing through the front door asking where their vault was and even blasting her way into said vault. It was after that though where things got fuzzy. She vaguely remembered that the spirits/souls/ghosts or whatever the currently politically correct term was had burst out of the vault and upwards into an angry cloud of spectral energy. She had caught the barest taste of so many evil and dark beings feeling their pain, anger, and vengeance addled selves. Then there's was squat. She wondered if the sight of so many dark spirits had overridden her mind and allowed the Rider instincts to take command or something like. She also wanted to know how it was that she had gotten hurt. It felt like her bones were on fire for some strange reason or other. She didn't think that there was anything that could leave any sort of lasting damage on her. With her Slayer healing and her Rider healing she should be pretty much invincible.

She lifted her head up slightly as she heard the clink of glass on the counter and saw a bottle of chilled beer sitting in front of her. Not even hesitating she grabbed the bottle and rolled it along her arms wishing that her various healing factors would hurry up and fix her already. It did give her a new appreciation for when Xander had come by and said his bones felt like they were on fire after a hard day at a job site. She hadn't hurt like this since an uber vamp had dropped a wall o Buffy groaned slightly as she leaned against the counter of the bar. She didn't know what those guys had hit her with, but she was still feeling the pain from whatever it was. She hadn't even been aware that there was anything that could actually hurt her like that anymore. Come to think of it, she didn't think she had ever been hurt this bad before. To make it worse, she couldn't remember everything that had happened while she had been in her Rider form. Which was something that she had thought that she had gotten over. Which was annoying since it had been a while since one of her missions caused her to black out.

It felt like her very bones themselves were on fire for some strange reason or other. She didn't think that there was anything that could leave any sort of lasting damage on her. What with her whole Slayer package and her Rider package, she should be pretty much invincible. It did give her a new appreciation for when Xander had said his bones felt like they were on fire after a hard day at a job site. She hadn't hurt like this since an uber vamp had dropped a wall on her. That or the time Caleb threw her around that classroom for fun. It was the first time since becoming the Rider that she had really felt like she had been in a fight. Which was different from the fact that she had almost gotten used to having joint pains every night from being tossed around by the supernatural.

Her inner musings were interrupted at the sound of a bottle hitting the bar. She raised her head slightly, and accepted the offered bottle and rubbed the chilled glass over her arms where the pain was the worst. Unfortunately it didn't seem to be offering her any real relief from what she was feeling. She looked up to thank the bartender and smiled a bit as she saw the familiar face looking at her. "Jarod." She greeted with a smile. "I didn't know you were here." She told the man. "Should I be worried about your friends catching up to us any time soon?" She questioned with a smirk, even as she looked around for any other familiar faces.

"I don't think so, I believe that they're at least two jobs behind me, so we should have some time before they decide to try and come here." Jarod assured the blonde. "Candy?" He asked, as he offered her his Spider-Man PEZ dispenser.

"You know I have trouble telling you no." Buffy returned with smile, as she accepted candy from her friend. "So how are your Frenemies anyways?" She asked curiously as she chewed on the sugary tablet.

"Frenemies?" Jarod asked in confusion, as he seemed to be unfamiliar with the term that she was spouting.

The blonde smiled at the somewhat naive man. "Yeah, you know enemies yet friends or is friends but enemies." Buffy screwed her face up as she tried to figure out the correct way to explain it to him. "Like your gang, despite the fact that they are all actively hunting you there is also a level of friendship between you. Although I personally think it's a bit more than friendship between you and Ms. Parker the way you talk about her."

"I just wish I hadn't been in such a hurry that time and could have watched what happened between the two of you." Jarod noted with a sloppy grin. "I imagine that it would have been amusing to see her get beaten like that. She never has taken defeat overly well."Sydney told me that you made a rather large impression on Miss Parker." Jarod added with a mischievous grin. "I'm only sorry I wasn't around to see it."

"Well when you got angry ex-girlfriends chasing after you while waving a gun around at people, I always think having a good distraction and running away is the best plan." Buffy returned to him.

"That's good." Jarod noted, as he gave her a relieved smile.

"Besides, I kind of liked Sydney." Buffy admitted to the bartender. "He kind of reminded me of Giles when I first met him. Just a lot more laid back and not so Tweedy. Besides it's not like you're above messing with Miss Parker and how she's never caught her. Which is why you enjoy rubbing her face in the fact that you're still causing her bosses trouble." Buffy pointed out to him with a knowing grin of approval tipping the bottle in her hand in a salute of his roguish methods.

"It's been a while since we've last seen each other." Jarod noted to her.

"No kidding, it almost feels like three years since we met."* Buffy agreed with him.

There was a coughing sound coming from a scruffy looking guy with several days' worth of stubble on his face and a crew cut. "Look, I know she's a hot blonde in all in tight leather that doesn't really leave a whole for the imagination. But could we get some service over here?" He demanded.

"Greg be nice." A brown haired man with shaggy brown hair and less stubble pleaded of his friend tiredly. As if he was actually used to his friend being rude to total strangers.

"What?" Greg asked his friend mock obliviously. "If they're going to do it, go to the back." He suggested. "Just refill my glass before you go. If you're not going to tap that though, then I'd still like a refill." He explained while tapping his mug expectantly.

"I know it can be a chore for you House, but can you not be an Ass to these people while I enjoy my beer? I'd rather not get kicked out of another bar, and we really don't want to have to deal with the troubles that might happen if they were to call the police. So please shut up."

"And here I thought cancer would make you want to act interesting Wilson." House grumbled to his friend. "Besides, there's simply no fun in in not doing stuff like that. Normal is just so overrated." He declared, as if explaining a truth of the universe to him. "Not to mention boring and you wouldn't want me to get bored considering what happened the last time that I got bored." He pointed out with a knowing look at his friend.

Wilson didn't even bother rising to the bait and continued talking as if this was a well-known conversation method. "You're just jealous that the hot blonde went to him instead of you, and that the first person in a long time that's been able to keep up with you in a conversation decided to do his job rather than entertain you." He pointed out.

"Isn't it like some unwritten rule that bartenders are supposed to stand there and listen to what the patrons have to say so that we'll leave good tips after having unloaded whatever mental trauma that may be real or imagined onto them? Mainly because it's cheaper than a psychiatrist though." House fired back at his partner scathingly.

"What do you care? You never tip anyways." Wilson pointed out to his drinking partner.

"Good point." House admitted after a moment. "There's also the fact that they can't write out prescriptions for those great pills either." House snapped his fingers as if he had just had an epiphany. "A bartender that could prescribe pills. That's what you should have become Wilson. You love listening to people's sob stories, and you could have done prescriptions as well. It would have been the perfect job for you."

"Which is why I always found myself between you and everyone else in the world." Wilson noted with a roll of his eyes. Besides had I don't that you would have been stealing beer from me even more than you did before."

"Exactly, everybody would have won." House returned to him. "You would have gotten to be the conscience for everyone that you met and then some, and I would have gotten free beer. See, win, win." He declared.

Buffy couldn't help but chuckle at the pair of men in biker leathers as they sniped back and forth at each other in a well-practiced manner. This was more entertaining than watching Cordellia and Xander go at each other back in high school. She was sure that these two had even more practice at it than those two used to have.

"So what are we drinking to?" House asked as Jarod refilled their mugs.

"Simple." Buffy decided as she raised her glass. "To the pain, and not the princess bride type either." She added in with a grin.

"Well considering Wilson here has Terminal Cancer, and I've had parts of my leg muscle removed I think that we can get behind that." House decide as he raised his own drink up. "To the pain and painkillers." He declared. The others all raised their own drinks in agreement. The pain was something that they all understood. "As long as we're celebrating pain and painkillers. House noted as he pulled out a pill bottle. "Let's do this right."

"House." Wilson spoke warningly.

"Oh come on Wilson live a little." House returned to him with a devil may care grin as he handed some pills to his friend. "What about you?" He challenged the bottle blonde that had started all of this. "It's obvious that you have some sort of deep joint pain. This will give you a few hours of relief." He offered her. "Trust me, we're doctors we know what we're talking about. Okay, we used to be before we decided to go on this big road trip of ours that is." He amended after a glare from Wilson.

"Really, what kind of medicine did you work in?" Jarod asked curiously.

"Wilson here got to deal with all of the boring cancer patients, but since he was so good at the hand holding they loved him. Me they only sent the interesting cases that no one could figure out." House boasted to the pair. He had worked hard for his reputation, and even faking his death wasn't going to make him ignore that for long.

"So you're the real Dr. Gregory House of the Plainsboro Teaching Hospital?" Jarod noted in surprise. "I read some of your research papers, they were rather intriguing. I always thought that it was a shame that you didn't publish your work more often. Although some of your fellows did base a large portion of the time with you to researching rare diseases that they came across while with you. Dr. Foreman and Dr. Cameron in particular come to mind."

Foreman was an idiot with delusions of grandeur who ended up becoming an administrator because he couldn't hack the type of medicine we did despite the fact that he loved to hang off of my coattails." House shot back at the bartender scathingly. "Cameron was a completely different type of idiot who couldn't hack the way we had to do things and ran away from what we were doing. Despite that she was probably one of my better ducklings." He admitted somewhat grudgingly.

"Please don't get him started on this." Wilson pleaded with them. "Next thing you know he'll start going on about the others."

"What, like how they gave my old job to the Wallaby?" House snarked at the group bitterly. "I can't believe that they gave the blonde the job. At least he learned to cut his hair so he wouldn't be mistaken for one of the female doctors. That or a Keith Urban stunt double.** So trust me, yes, I know what I'm telling you. Taking those pills won't send you into cardiac arrest. Trust me, I'm an expert in the body's ability to handle the drug. I'm a living specimen."

"You're also the cautionary tale of what could happen." Wilson added in knowingly.

"Is the peanut gallery done?" House questioned with a glare. Because not everyone can be Saint Wilson. Which reminds me your not broken in some way are you? I'd really rather Wilson didn't try to marry you to fix whatever he thinks is wrong with you in what little time he has left." Wilson huffed a bit at that, but kept his mouth shut this time.

Buffy frowned as she looked at the pill. Most painkillers didn't do much for her since she had a healing factor that made them run through her system. Sure she had never taken Vicodin before, but she doubted that it would really help. Still, it wasn't like she had a whole to worry about if she tried, and it might give her the relief that she needed for an hour or so. Maybe if she was lucky her healing would kick in and fix some of the damage in that time. With a shrug she took three of the pills and dry swallowed them.

"You got guts taking that many at once. House admitted looking at her approvingly.

"Let's just say it takes a lot of drugs to really affect me." Buffy returned. "Chloroform, the flu medicine she took in high school, and the stuff the Council used for their test were the only things that had ever had any real lasting effect on her."

House shrugged at her indifferently. "Whatever, just don't blame me when you end up on your ass from taking so many at once when you've never taken any before." He warned her.

Buffy smirked at him. "It'll take more than your pills to do that." She assured him confidently.

"Have a fun trip." House returned in equal confidence and something an anticipating leer. "Now back to the drinking." He declared.

* * *

Buffy had spent a few hours with the group. She had also gotten conned into playing some strip poker. It seemed all of those lessons Spike had insisted on hadn't helped all that much. Her only saving grace had been that Wilson actually sucked even more than she did. Not that it had saved either of them a whole lot dignity. House and Jarod on the other hand were some of the scariest card sharks that she had ever seen. They might even have given Spike a run for his kittens. The time spent drinking and playing cards had helped her though, as her body had managed to heal up some while she was waiting. Not that her dignity had survived, and the lap dance she had to give to House had been embarrassing as well. Almost as embarrassing as him telling how poor her technique was. She figured she would put it under the list of things she wouldn't ever talk about. Just like Xander and Oxnard on ladies night.

Currently she was dozing in the back of the bar, where Jarod was currently living. She twisted and turned a bit, as she had the closest thing that she had to a Slayer dream in a long time. There was a woman she couldn't see her face because it was hidden behind a medieval helmet of some sort. She had a big sword that came out of her arm similar to a Polgara Demon's arm spike, only this one was flat and broad. The figure seemed to be standing guard over something that the blonde couldn't figure out. She was also gesturing for Buffy to come at her though. As if challenging her for a fight. Buffy really wished shee knew what it was, and what it meant. If it was really like her Slayer dreams then it meant that she was about to find something or someone that was going to be trouble. She did wonder if it was a Slayer dream or if it was something from Scratch. Whatever it was she knew that it meant trouble.

* * *

Detective Sara Pezzeni shook her head out of the motorcycle helmet as she pulled up to the refitted firehouse. A part of her hated having to depend on a group of amateurs like the Ghostbusters, but she also knew that they were among some of the best when it came to dealing with spirits no matter how much she may think that they should have stayed in theoretical and research and design for dealing with creatures instead of opening up a spirit capturing business. She just knew that there were things about this that were so wrong, and there was nothing that she could do about it either. Personally she would have liked nothing better than to wipe her hands clear of the group, but while the mayor hated them and didn't understand what it was that they did. He understood that they were a much needed part of New York right now.

Sara hated the fact that because of her position that she even had to deal with these guys, but there was a reason strange and unexplained homicides usually found a way of either being solved by her or were swept under the table with the knowledge that the problem had been dealt with.

Sara Pezzeni was descended from a long line of women who could trace their linage all the way back to people like Joan of Arc. All of them had wielded the mystical weapon known as the Witchblade. A type of organic armor shape shifting weapon that could become a harmless bracelet or a suit of steel plated armor. Normally she just used it as a gauntlet with a sword that came out of the wrist. There had been times when she had needed its full power though. It also seemed to give her a boost in physical abilities and some strange dreams that were the Witchblades method of communicating with her.

She surveyed the damage that had been done to the building that had suffered more than one attack by various things over the years. Whatever it was, it had hit the Ghostbusters really hard last night. The main doors had been shattered, there was fire damage all over the place, and even the Echo 1 had some damage to it. All in all, it was some of the worst damage that she had seen the place in. Considering some of the damage that she had seen the place in that was saying a lot. She nodded to various people as she entered the building, even as she wondered who or what could have done all of this. Had the Ghostbusters finally made a spirit angry enough at them to do something?

"Detective!" A voice called out.

Sara turned to see the Ghostbusters sitting around a table. Ray and Egon were going over whatever data that they had and were discussing it. The other two members were checking the equipment that they had. She noticed that the packs and traps that they had were all set and prepared for whatever was out there. "So what did you idiots do this time?" She demanded, while glaring at the group. "I've got reports all up and down the block that you've been causing property damage again." She snarled at the Ghostbusters.

"As interesting as that may be detective, we have a bigger problem at the moment." Egon returned to her, as he was busy with various devices. "We are dealing with an ecto plasmatic being that can also solidify itself into phase with the rest of the world and act as a biological entity as well. It's shown a skill with enhanced muscular structure, pyro projection, and a type of essence reading at the very least."

"What?" Sara asked, turning to look at Peter Venkeman. She really hated when these men decided to go full geek on her. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that the men spent more time than not in that mode. What was annoying was the guy wasn't even trying to flaunt his brain or high vocabulary, it was just the way that he talked when he got distracted by something scientific.

"It breathes fire, is really strong and can sniff out certain ghosts." The former college professor explained to her smugly, while rolling his eyes at his teammate's explanation.

Sara clenched her fist in annoyance. While his partner may do it unconsciously, Peter Venkman enjoyed flaunting his knowledge as he translated what Egon was telling them. It made her want to strangle the man all the more with his somewhat condescending manner.

"Any idea what it is, or what it wants?" Sara asked them hopefully, as she ignored the impulse to smack the face of the Ghostbuster leader around a few times for being an ass.

"We don't have enough data to configure a reasonable hypothesis." Egon returned to the detective. "This is merely preliminary data at the moment that might allow us to theorize the current situation. Had we been aware of its existence before today we would have prepared ourselves. The main problem with combating something such as this is that it seems to have two states of being which shouldn't even be possible. A being shouldn't be composed of ecto-plasmatic energy and a bio field without causing some sort of explosive."

"What does this mean?" Sara questioned curiously.

Egon frowned at the woman. "It means that we have to fabricate a trap of some type that can hold a spiritual entity and a biological one. We also need to configure something that will allow us to compensate for the differentials between us and the entity in strength."

The detective nodded her head in understanding. The man was right that they needed something to contain this thing. If some of the reports she had heard then this thing would require her to go into her fully armored form to fight this thing. She rubbed her wrist somewhat nervously as she considered what she would have to do. "What about the rest of you, any ideas?" Sara aske,d knowing she'd probably gotten all of the useful information that she could out of the man.

"This thing didn't care about us, it was only interested in getting into the vault." Winston noted to the group. "It tore right through the place and the only time it even seemed to notice us was when it was asking for the vault or we gor in its way."

"So what, you think this was some kind of jailbreak?" Sara asked with interest. This sounded like an attack that as a police officer that she could understand. Of course it did bring up the question of just why someone would want to break out a bunch of malicious spirits from containment. A magic user or demon could want them to empower a spell, or someone could want them for some. To answer a question, someone that thought that the spirits should be free, or even someone that the Ghostbusters had angered in some way. This was one of the reasons why she hated dealing with the supernatural on cases. It meant a throwing out of all of the basic rules while she tried to figure out just what was going on. It was also her first lead in all of this though. Which meant that she was going to have to work with it. "Alright I'm going to need you guys to go through your records and get me a list of all of the various spirits that you've captured in the last six months. I also need you to get me a list of people that you've annoyed in the same time period." She ordered the men.

"Understood." The men agreed.

"I better start getting work on that then." Janice declared with a sigh. "If you were to wait on these clowns to get this done, it would be the middle of next year before they managed to get it all done. I better call Louis as well, he'll have all of the legal paperwork." She mumbled, as she thought about her on again off again boyfriend who also acted as the company lawyer.

"See that you do." Sara ordered before she turned away. It seemed that she was going to have a lot of things to do tonight. To think that she was just about to go off the clock to. She didn't get in for several more hours and when she did finally fall into bed she dreamed about a shadowy figure with a fiery backdrop wielding some strange sort of ax like weapon. It was something that left her uneasy and unsure as to exactly what it was that was coming or how she was supposed to face it.

* * *

*A poke at myself. It was in 2011 that I posted them meeting for the first time.

** Nothing against Keith Urban, I just thought that it was something House like to say.

The banter between House and Wilson was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. To think all I intended was for House to make some sort of sarcastic remark and then he would fade into the background. Instead he kind of took this chapter over.


End file.
